


X-men vs The Apocalypse

by rachelrose40



Series: X-men expanded universe [2]
Category: Marvel, X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men Apocalypse - Fandom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Apocalypse, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Mutant Hate, Peter Needs a Hug, Sibling Bonding, Some angst, Team Bonding, X men apocalypse storyline, changed a little though, drama in the team, eheh especially John, focus on the team not charles, fun with superpowers, lots of fluff, x men apocalypse - Freeform, x men team bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 31
Words: 50,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23789044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rachelrose40/pseuds/rachelrose40
Summary: The few months after Peter arrives at the mansion go smoothly, but when Christmas rolls around, a new threat emerges from Cairo and forces the X-men into action. Months of training have paid off as the gang dives head first into a battle against the apocalypse.(More information inside:)
Series: X-men expanded universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713868
Comments: 77
Kudos: 20





	1. Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome guys!! Time for the apocalypse. This story will follow the outline of the x men apocalypse movie with some major and minor changes mainly worked around new characters. Full credit to marvel for the characters and storyline :) if you have not read my first work, you will most likely be confused and should go read it if you wish to continue. (The complete trailer for this work is also there so you can look at that) Like before, this is part of a bigger universe I’ve got in the works so stick around as long as you’d like.  
> Unlike the movie, this story will focus mainly on the kids as they figure out their places amongst the team as the threat of apocalypse comes up rather than focusing on Xavier. Comment with any questions or feedback, I love it all. :) enjoy! (TONS of thanks to my friend SortingHat06 for writing this with me! She doesn’t have an account yet but she will soon)

“No one knows when the first mutant was born, it’s practically untraceable, but we do know that humans officially became aware of our presence around world war 1.” Charles spun slowly around in his wheelchair to look at his class, smiling gently at the fascinated faces of his students, until his eyes landed on a pair of silver heads. “Peter. Jess. Am I that boring?” The heads of the maximoffs shot up. They glanced at each other, both with their hair sticking up at crazy angles from their nap. 

“Sorry professor.” They said in unison. Jess stifled a yawn as she sat back up and tried to focus on class. Scott lightly elbowed peter.

“Too cool for this class?” He joked. 

“Nah, he just talks slow, and I’ve been training Jess, remember?” Peter whispered across the desk to Scott. Since they had reached the mansion, Jess had far from been in control of her powers, much to Peter’s amusement. Even better was that Peter got to personally help train Jess in favor of of Scott, who as team leader did not take too kindly to that. He got over himself after a while and Jess actually started to improve. She lost control every once and a while and was far from able to go on a mission (not that they had had any) but she no longer smacked into a door every time she ran. 

“Please, Peter, you could train Jess and get plenty of sleep. That’s no excuse.” Scott said and rolled his eyes. 

“Eh, have you seen her run?”

“Yeah, and i stand by what I said.” 

“Oh really?”

“Yes, I-“

“Scott, Peter, pay attention please.” Charles called from across the classroom. His back was turned to them but they could hear the smile in his voice. “Your paper on when you believe mutants first originated is due next week, five paragraphs.” Charles continued and spun around to look right at Scott and the Maximoffs. “You’re dismissed.“ he said after a pregnant pause. The room instantly filled with the content chatter of the teens as they packed up their bags. 

“You two really fell asleep?” Bobby asked as he ran to catch up with the rest of the team already in the hallway. “I’d be scared to in the professor’s class.” 

Jess shrugged. “I was tired.” 

“It still was a boss move.” 

“Or a stupid one.” Storm rolled her eyes. “It was only five till lunch anyway.” She said.

The older kids talked over the younger students‘ heads as they walked to their lunch spot. As the x men, and older students, Charles had given them a dining/kitchen area to themselves away from the littler kids, though sometimes John brought kitty along with him to lunch. 

“Pfft, five minutes was plenty of time for a power nap.” Peter smirked at ororo and zipped in front of the rest to the kitchen. 

“Power nap my butt, you snore too loud to get any rest.” John said. Jess shot him a dirty look. 

“You could not make fun of us for just a little bit, you know.” 

John shrugged and grinned a little. “Well you guys could not fall asleep in class.” Jess was about to shoot another comment back, but they reached the kitchen and Peter beat her to it. 

“Haha, very funny.” He said and as he zipped from the open fridge to smack John on the back of the head. 

“Hey!” John swatted at Peter, but he was already back by the fridge and pulled out three cans of sprite. “Ha! I get the last three sodas!” 

“Can’t you share?” Kurt peeked over Peter’s shoulder to look at the drinks.

“Hey, no way, you guys get the caffeinated stuff all to yourselves.” Peter held he sprite cans definitively away from the teleporter. 

“Where’s your Christmas spirit?” Kurt asked and made another grab for the cans only for Peter to run across the room with them. “Aren’t you supposed to share?” 

“Did you really expect the maximoffs to share?” Scott asked and passed out bags of chips. 

“Never In a million years.” John said and popped open his chips. Jean laughed a little in the doorway and shook her head as everyone turned to her. 

“What’s so funny?” Peter asked. 

Jean shook her head again and sighed. “You guys are missing the point, aren’t you? No one can have the sodas now, he just ran across the room with them.” Jean waved over at Peter. “If you open them now they’re going to explode.” 

The was a collective groan from the group as Peter defectedly put the drinks back in the refrigerator. With a sigh he closed it and turned on his heel to the team. 

“So.” He said. “Who’s up for pizza?”  
————————————————  
Deep underground of Cairo Egypt, far from the mutant teens enjoying pizza, a voice seeped through the fallen rock. 

“I know you’re here, my lord. Give me a sign.” The earth shook under the worshipper’s feet. “give me a sign!” She called. “Lead me to you” The mutant called on the fullness of her powers and the wall in front of her shifted. She gasped at the damp air that released with the rocks as the crumbled in front of her. Without care of what debris she may be breathing in she squeezed through the small hole in the earth. 

“I’ve come this far I knew I would find you.” The young mutant fell to her knees at the sight in front of her. A cavern, stretching nearly as far as her eye could see, lay in front of her. She stumbled to her feet and nearly tripped over a pile of bones. 

“You shouldn’t have betrayed him, filth.” She spat at the corpse as if it was alive. “I will serve him better than you EVER did!” Her shout echoed around the room. She snorted in disgust at the remains by her feet and pushed on to explore. Her voice caught in her throat when she saw the ancient body on a slab in the middle of the cavern. 

“My lord.” She rushed to the being’s side. “Why would they abandon you like this?” The floor rumbled as her anger surged. The girl’s hand slipped into her messenger bag and pulled out an amulet. She carefully lifted the blue mutant’s head on the slab and slipped the amulet over his neck. 

“My lord, return and cleanse this earth and make a way for your children.” The emerald in the necklace began to glow and flooded the dark room with a green light. The floor shifted, but without the use of the girl’s powers. 

“RISE AGAIN EN SABAH NUR AND BRING FORTH THE APOCALYPSE!!” As quickly as it appeared the light vanished, seeping into places unseen. “No...NO! You’re real! Why isn’t it working?!” The mutant slammed her fists into the resting table of En Sabah Nur. She blinked back tears, and wished with every fiber of he being she hadn’t wasted her time in search of such myths. The voices of her parents came back to her, telling her of her ridiculous dream. She’d cursed them. Told them that they’d see, but in the end it was she who had chased not dreams, but nightmares, only helping them come true. 

“Why do you cry, my child?” Her head shot up at the gentle voice. 

“It worked.” 

“Did you doubt?”

“No-I.”

“What are you called, my child?” The ancient mutant lifted the girl’s chin to look him in the eye.

“Vivian.” 

“No...such a name does not suit such a powerful girl. You will be called Quake, as those who do not listen will do before you and for what you will do to their world.” The girls grinned at the elder’s words. 

“And you, my lord, are the apocalypse.”


	2. Pizza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team stops of pizza, something unexpected happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friday update! This one is mostly team dynamic kinda stuff, hope you all enjoy. Thanks so much to all you guys who have left comments and kudos on my first story, I appreciate it so much :) thank you again.

“Come on guys, it wasn’t that long of a ride.” Scott said, rolling his eyes as the maximoffs jumped out of the car. “You’re just being dramatic.” They’d just pulled up outside Joe’s pizza parlor, the closest place to the mansion and still the maximoffs had done nothing but fidget the entire ride. By the time they got to their destination, Scott was glaring so hard at them everyone thought he would burn through his glasses. 

“Freedom!” Jess shouted despite Scott’s statement and stretched to shake the stiffness from her legs. 

“Give them a break, Scott, you don’t know what super speed is like.” Jean said with an annoyed expression. Scott shot her a glance. 

“Yeah, but they don’t have to complain the whole way here.” 

“Oh be quiet, Scotty.” Peter said and slammed his hand into Scott’s back, making him stumble forward with a curse. Jean caught him before he hit the ground and he looked up blushing. Jean blushed right back and let go of his arm. 

“Really Scott-“ She whispered to him as they followed everyone inside the restaurant. “-you don’t have to blush like that anymore, we’re already dating.” 

Scott blushed almost as red as his glasses and scooted towards the rest of the group instead of giving a reply. Jean sighed and shook her head, but trailed behind everyone else to their table. 

Scott had rushed to the front of the group and was sliding into a puffy red both near the back of the building when Jean entered. She watched Peter and Scott squabble about who would order with an amused smile and leaned against a booth a few tables away to watch it all go down. 

“Well I’m older.” Peter pointed out and started towards the counter when Scott grabbed his arm and pulled him back. 

“Well I’m the team leader.”

“So?”

“So I’ll order for us.” 

“That’s a dumb reason to order.”

“Well you’re just dumb!” 

Peter scoffed and pulled his silver jacket away from Scott from where he was grabbing onto it. Jean didn’t hear the next part of the argument as she got distracted by the thoughts screaming from the cashier watching Peter and Scott. His thoughts were all fuzzy, bouncing around in Jean’s head like a rampaging ping pong ball. She took a breath and brought her hand to her temple just as the professor had shown her and focused in on the young man’s thoughts. 

‘-oh my gosh, are they mutants?? That guy with the gray hair has to be, what kind of teenager has gray hair? Are we about to be robbed? Oh god we’re about to be robbed aren’t we!’ Jean pulled out of his mind before she was dragged in any deeper and shuffled over to the team just as it was decided who won. 

“So, I’ll order, I guess.” Peter said with a satisfied grin and checked his wallet. 

“I think you better let me do it.” Jean said as she arrived at the table. With a sad smile, she took Peter’s wallet as he stood there open mouthed. 

“What? Why?” He asked and looked like he was about to start speed talking when Jean nodded towards the counter. Peter glanced over his shoulder at the cashier who looked away as soon as the speedster made eye contact. he sighed and scowled to himself, but handed over his wallet without any protest. “Yeah, you can order.” 

Jean nodded and took orders, still with an uncomfortable smile across her face. “Sorry, It’s just more inconspicuous if I do it.” Peter dismissed her with a wave of his hand, though he was still scowling slightly. 

“It’s not a big deal, I’m used to it.” Peter shrugged. “Just don’t forget the pepperoni.”

Jess raised an eyebrow as Peter sighed when Jean walked towards the counter, but she didn’t push it.   
While Jean was ordering the rest of the team chatted and joked around about what their first “official mission” would be. 

“Technically, half of us have already had our first official mission.” Kurt added after John proposed an underwater adventure or some sort. “Plus, your powers wouldn’t work under water.” 

“Oh right, I forgot about that.” John mumbled to himself and slid a little deeper in his seat. Bobby to over for their point of argument: 

“There are too many new people for that the count that.” he said. “Me, Peter, John, and even Jess, that’s like half the team so-“

He was interrupted as the ground began to shake. The glass in the windows rattled as the rumbling got louder. People started screaming, the plaster on the ceiling was split, and even the x men grabbed onto the table to not be shaken out of their seats. 

“What is going on?!” Jess yelled over the chaos. 

“Earthquake!!!” Someone in the restaurant shouted in panic. At the shout the ground calmed itself and everything settled as suddenly as it had begun. Everyone sat in a shocked silence, wondering if they had all shared in some collective dream and there was never actually an earthquake. The state of the building pointed away from the dream theory though. Outside, a couple car alarms were going of just slightly out of synch. The parlor trays and napkin holders were tossed across the floor with what used to be a glass of coke and was now a growing brown puddle. The most tell tale sigh of what happened was the splintering crack in the ceiling plaster, running all the way across the building.

“What the hell just happened.” Scott squeaked, looking extremely green. The uncomfortable silence was his only answer until Jean broke the the pregnant pause by bringing the pizzas over. 

“Six pizzas, three for us, three for the maximoffs.” She said shakily and slid the trays across the table. 

“Yay! Food!” Peter and Jess grabbed their pizzas and dug in despite the unsettled atmosphere in the building. 

“What, we’re hungry.” Peter said with his mouthful when he noticed everyone, even the people not of the team, were staring at them. 

“There was just an earthquake, dude.” Scott retorted. “And you just eat like nothing happened.”

“Nothing did happen, the pizza is undamaged, why waste it?” Jess grinned and picked up a second slice. As she went to take another bite the ground began to rumble again. The trimmer was worse than the last. It shook the tables and knocked a little kid out of his chair, which made him scream bloody murder. But just as the last quake, it settled as suddenly as it appeared. 

“That’s so weird.” Jean said. “Why are there earthquakes in New York.” 

For The rest of lunch/dinner everyone was uneasy and stood on guard for the next quake, should it strike. As luck would have it the two trimmers were the end of the spontaneous earthquake. Ten minutes into the meal the cashier at the parlor turned the sound on the TV when the broadcast caught his attention. 

“Just a few minutes ago the whole world was shaken by trimmers originating from Cairo Egypt, the point of origin for the earthquake. No disturbance of fault lines has been noticed and has left the world baffled as to where this phenomenon came from.” A little footage of the damage flashed on the screen From Cairo. A few buildings had crumbled, a couple cars turned over but they appeared to have been parked when it happened. The news cast said no one was hurt, though that seemed almost impossible with the destruction from the cite. The team watched with undivided attention, even the maximoffs abandoned their pizza. 

“Guys, you don’t think...” ororo trailed off. 

“We need to ask the professor.” Jean answered for her. “But you’re right, the only explanation...is a mutant.”   
————————————————  
“There’s no other explanation, Professor, no earth quake is that big and that intense. It had to be a mutant.” Jean spoke for the whole team as she reasoned with the professor. 

“I highly doubt that, Jean, just because a severe earthquake happened doesn’t mean it’s a mutant. I know you are all itching to have a mission, but I would prefer to not have to send you in for no reason.”

“Do you really want to take that risk?” Storm said. “Just send us in, if nothings there then no harm, no fowl.” 

“There is harm, but not of the mutant nature, I don’t want you lot getting blamed for the quake, if anything else happens I will send you in.” Charles wheeled himself back behind his desk and resumed grading papers. 

“This is what we’re here for, just-“

“Peter. I said no. End of story. If I’m not mistaken, you all have homework to do, correct?” 

Everyone groaned and shuffled out of the office. Raven caught them on the way out. 

“I’ll talk to him, he’s upset, something about Erik, I’m sure he’ll come around.” 

“Thanks, Ray.” Jess said with a grin. 

“Didn’t I tell you not to call me that?” Raven smirked light heartedly. “You’ll regret that in training, try not to be late again, huh?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try.” Jess rolled her eyes and started to follow the rest of the team down the hall. “No promises.” She waved goodbye to raven and zipped up to the front of the group beside peter. 

“Well that was a bust.” Peter said, not even flinching as Jess appeared beside him. 

“Tell me about it, sent away to finish homework, what a shame.” John shook his head with a chuckle. “At least we have training today.” 

“Training for what? Charles, sorry, the professor, won’t let us go anywhere.” Jess huffed. “What’s the point in being superheroes if there’s nothing to superhero against.” 

“Something will happen eventually, we just have to be ready.” Jean said. “We can all study together, go get your books.” 

“But it’s almost Christmas, why do we still have homework?” Scott tried to reason with jean, but she was adamant. 

“The professor gave us homework, that’s why, it’s still two and a half weeks until Christmas anyway, it’s not Christmas Eve or anything.” 

“Still...” 

“Just go get your books, guys.” She scowled. “Stop being so difficult.” 

Reactions were mixed, but everyone ran off to grab their papers. As always, the maximoffs beat everyone back to the lounge table. They sat down to wait and played with their pencils. by the time everyone else got back they were having a Simon and Garfunkel concert, both were singing Me Julio Down by the School Yard and drumming out the rhythm on their history books. 

“Woah there, rockstar, chill, you’re going to bust our eardrums.” Scott teased as he tossed his books onto the couch beside Jean’s 

“Simon and Garfunkel are artists, thank you, not rockstars.” Peter stopped his drumming and threw his pencil at Scott. 

“Stop it guys, we need to study.” Jean sighed, froze the pencil in midair before it hit Scott, and tossed it back at Peter. He caught it easily. 

“Why do we even need to know when the first mutant, ya know, mutated.” Bobby asked with a saiph as he plopped down on one of the beanbag chairs pulled up to the coffee table. “It’s not like we’re ever gonna meet him, why do we need to know his birthday.” 

“It’s the assignment, Robert.” Ororo rolled her eyes and smirked at Bobby.

“Ugh, enough with that, I hate that name.” 

“Okay, Robbie, rob-bob, Robert the man, bob the boss, anything but plain old Robert, right?” Jess rattled off in one breath. 

“I liked it better when I couldn’t understand what you were saying.” Bobby halfheartedly opened his notes with a pout. 

“Hey, I’ve got good control over my powers now.” Jess cuffed him on the back of the head lightly, but smiled at the jibe 

“Well...” Peter grinned at her. “I wouldn’t say good.” 

“Hey! Says you, you ran into a wall the yesterday.” She lifted her pencil to throw but jean took it. 

“I was distracted.” Her brother shrugged. “You ran into a tree and you were focusing.” 

“Guys. S.T.U.D.Y.” Kurt spelled out. “Ever heard of it before?” 

“Relax, blue, we’re just playing.” Peter lifted his hands defensively and opened his book to the ancient history section. 

“I thought Hank was blue.” Kurt frowned. 

“Oh right, I’ll have to come up with a different one for you.” Peter drummed his fingers on the binding of his textbook for a second. “Any ideas?” 

“My circus name was Nightcrawler, I can go by that.” 

“Oooo, I like that, Nightcrawler it is. One down, half the team to go.” Peter squinted at a few of his teammates. “Some of you guys are hard to name you know.” 

“Have you picked a name for yourself?” John immediately abandoned any hope of getting work done at the mention of team names and slammed his notebook closed. 

“Yep: quicksilver, pretty cool, huh?” Peter grinned and ran a hand through his hair. “I thought of it first, Jess, don’t even think about stealing it.” 

“Aww man, fine, I’ll come up with a cooler one.” Jess elbowed Peter. “You can’t steal all the cool names.” 

“All the cool names?” Now Storm was distracted too, they were falling fast. 

“Yeah, well-“ Jess began, but Jean cut her off.

“If you guys can’t focus I’ll force you all to.” She waved her hands in the air vaguely, trying to glare at them, but she couldn’t help a smile. 

“You wouldn’t.” Scott faked offense. “Not to your loving boyfriend.” 

“I will if you guys don’t focus.” She poked Scott in the chest and levitated his books into his lap. “Now study.” 

“Fiiiiiiiiine.” The maximoffs whined in unison. Their figures blurred for a second and they both stood up, grabbing their stuff off the table. “Done!” They high-fived and disappeared in a gust of wind. John’s hand shot out to catch the papers they had sent flying. 

“I swear they do that on purpose.” He muttered and joined the rest of the team in writing their essays.


	3. Welcome Famine/Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apocalypse searches for his horsemen, the team prepares despite what Charles said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early update! I had the chapter ready so why not, right? The next one should be up on Wednesday, buuut, I have a lot of stuff to do, so I don’t know exactly how it will play out. Thanks again for the comments and questions! If you have anymore don’t hesitate to let me know.

“Where are we, my child.” Apocalypse asked as they exited his tomb. He stood unblinking in the sunlight, despite not seeing in thousands of years. 

Quake looked up at her fellow mutant, almost in awe.   
“Cairo, Egypt, the same as before you left.” 

“No.” He said and turned his stony gaze to the young woman. “Where in time,” he looked back around at the busy streets and crowds of people. “It’s rather...different.” 

“It is the end of 2019.” She answered. Apocalypse nodded knowing. 

“I must learn. I must gather those who will follow me. We must complete our mission. “ 

Quake stood straighter we he said “we.” She was part of his group, he included her, even when no one else would. 

“I shall take you to learn, my lord, what do you want to learn?” 

“Everything.” En sabar Nur replied and ran his hand over the stone wall as they walked down the allies of Cairo. His servant stopped for a moment processing what he said. 

“But...how?” She asked after a moment. Even with her resources there was no way to teach him everything. He glanced back at her with a stony look and then back at the dust. 

“Do you question my abilities, pestilence?” 

“No, my lord, I meant no harm, I-“

“Quiet your mutterings and take me to find the other three: death, war, and famine. They await me and I have arrived, we shall not keep the waiting.” Apocalypse turned from the young mutant and continued following the wall around the corner to the busy streets of Egypt. For once Vivian questioned her commitment to the false god, but pushed the doubts away and trotted to catch up with him. He was all she had left, she couldn’t doubt this now.   
......  
Pestilence led Apocalypse down the steps underground to Caliban’s “business.” He had been the one who first pointed her towards Apocalypse’s tomb, though it did take some...convincing. 

“Welcome Vivian, Caliban felt you coming, who is this you have with you.” The Caliban said and cocked his head and waved at apocalypse, looking not unlike a seal. “Big blue isn’t your boyfriend? Yes?” 

“My name is quake, and he is our salvation.” Pestilence said and held her head higher, a smile curling on her lips. 

“Why so serious, darling, this have to do with him.” Caliban asked. He straightened his head and nodded at apocalypse, but Quake just scoffed. “What do you want. Caliban is happy to oblige, as long as you brought money for Caliban.” 

“We brought no money, but you will give to us what we ask.” Quake spoke for apocalypse. The ground shook ever so slightly, making Caliban stumble. His guard immediately sprung to action, holding a katana in one hand and summoning a plasma sword in the other. 

“Leave, and you won’t get your neck sliced, Shakespeare. That’s my final offer.” She said as she held the blades closer to their throats, neither flinched. 

“Why do you follow those who use you, my child?” Apocalypse asked as he reached out for her sword. She watched with wide eyes as he grabbed the blade by his neck and snapped it like a twig. “Can’t you see this filth is only using you for his own benefit. You have such power, why do you squander it here.” The woman’s expression shifted into a glare. 

“You can’t barge in here and accuse me of being stupid enough to be used by my boss, you can take your big, costumed ass out of here right now unless you cough up the cash right now.” 

Apocalypse’s eyes turned white and he reached out towards the woman. 

“My child, why do you protect such...fools.” He said with a wave towards caliban, “what is your name?” 

“I don’t have to tell you jack-“ 

“So aggressive, you will do well.” Apocalypse interrupted. “Come my child.” His white gaze focused on the soldier. “Welcome, Famine, to the apocalypse.”   
...........................  
Famine and Pestilence watched as apocalypse absorbed history from an old television set. Both stood near the kitchen table of the cramped Egyptian home they seized and were using as a temporary base. It wasn’t the fortress either horseman had imagined, but Apocalypse insisted that it was all he needed. 

“What is he doing?” Famine asked from where she leaned on the kitchen table. 

“Learning.” Quake smiled, not taking her eyes off Apocalypse. “What is your name? Your real name.” 

“Elisabeth, but I go by Psylocke. You?” 

“Our father calls me Quake, no name before that matters.” Quake held her head higher as she spoke of apocalypse. Psylocke scoffed. 

“So...you walked out of a Shakespearen play, huh?” She teased, though not entirely as a joke. Vivian looked at her with a black expression. 

“What do you mean?” 

“You’re all serious, no conjunctions, no nothing just kinda...stiff.” She Chuckled and mimed Quake’s posture. “Do you even have a personality?” 

Vivian blinked at her for a second before looked back towards Apocalypse. “My mission is to aid en sabar Nur and our race, I see no reason to joke as you do.” 

“Oh great, I’ve gotten myself into a cult of crazies.” Famine mumbled. “Alright, so you keep talking about ‘cleansing the world’ so when do we start?” Before quake could answer, apocalypse spoke from the living room. 

“Who is this?” He asked as he looked up from the screen and turned back to his followers. It took the girls a moment to realize he was talking to them after his period of silence. 

“Me? I’m Elisabeth, Phylock, famine or whatever, you forgot me that quickly?” 

“Not you, my child. Him.” He pointed to the screen. A man in dark red armor was shown on the screen, giving a speech about the rights of mutants. 

“Him? That’s magneto, or Erik Lensherr, a mutant who controls metal. He’s been on the run for a while.” Elisabeth waved a hand at the screen and grabbed a beer from the little fridge shoved into the corner. “He tried to kill the president a while back over a mutant registry bill and hasn’t really been seen since.” She thumped the cap off her beer and took a swig before continuing. “Not seen by the American government anyway, those guys are basically useless. But Caliban said something about him being in Poland or whatever.” 

Apocalypse nodded and focused back on the image of Erik.   
“War, It good to meet you.” He said and straightened with what could have been a smile. “If he is in Poland then that’s where we go.” 

“He won’t just pack his bags and come, he’s got a family.” 

“His family will soon be of little concern, in the meantime, we must find death.” 

A twisted smile spread onto quake’s face. “My Lord, we would like nothing better.” She dropped into a bow, which, after some reluctance, Phylock mimicked.   
————————————————  
“Explain to me again why we have training a two from Christmas.” Peter asked as he crossed his arms and leaned on the control panel hank was playing with. “All the normal schools get a few weeks off.” 

“Because unlike Charles.” Hank said as he spun around to face the team. “I think the earthquake was caused by a mutant and I want you to be ready.” He reached behind him and flipped a switch. From the back wall of the danger room and quiet whirring started. 

The x men team turned around to face the sentinels as they stomped out of the hole forming in the back wall. The team was barely used to the bots and shifted uncomfortably as they stomped into the room. Hank had only just cooked the sentinels up as “top level train” and the first time they tried it they had gotten their butts kicked.

“Here we go.” Jess breathed as tied to shake of the jittering feeling in her arms and legs. Peter shot her and glance and they exchanged a nod before pulling their goggles on. 

“Good luck.” Scott nodded to his team. “Remember, be care-“

“Yeah, we know.” John grinned. “Let’s cut to chase already.” 

Scott scowled behind his visor and turned towards the sentinels. 

“It wouldn’t kill you to listen every once in a while.” Scott mumbled to himself. “We might actually win this time if you do.” 

No one paid a lick of attention to Scott; the robots drew their attention and they jumped into the fight. 

It was far from a graceful battle. John and Bobby accidentally cancelled each other’s attacks and smashed into each other. Jean nearly tripped Peter, Kurt teleported right in front of storm’s lightning blast and had to be rushed out of the way by Jess, who ran them both into a wall. In the end, the whole team was groaning and clutching one part of their now bruised body as the sentinels continued stomping around the danger room. 

Hank pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed as he watched the chaos. If it got any worse he would have to pull them out, but Scott beat him to it. 

“Guys! Fall back, fall back, we’re going to kill each other!” Scott yelled and ducked under a piece of a sentinel that flew towards his face. The metal missed him, but barely, and lodged into the paneled walls with a ripping clang. Scott glanced back of it and didn’t breathe for a moment when he realized the wreckage of the wall could have been his face. 

Everyone followed orders and dodged their way over to Scott in the most ungrateful way possible as Hank shut down the training program. John hissed as he pulled up his sleeve to check on a growing red spot that must have been a burn. 

“I thought you couldn’t get burnt.” Bobby said as he stepped over. John glanced up at him with a slight grimace. 

“I can’t.” 

Before Bobby could answer, a shout drew their attention. 

“Jess!” Peter yelled as he watched her still zipping around. “What the heck are you doing?” 

“I can’t stop!!” She ran in a circle around the team, yelling. “Help!” 

“What do you mean you can’t stop?!” John asked, Peter thought that it was pretty obvious what she meant, but she answered anyway. 

“I can’t stop speeding!!” She shouted back as she blurred around the room. Even with the speed warbling her voice, there was no mistaking the panic that rose in her tone as she scorched a line on the floor. 

“Peter, help her!” Jean said and pushed him forward towards his sister. “Before she burns a hole in the floor!” 

Peter nodded and matched speed with Jess. He looked her over for a second to make sure she was okay. Besides looking very confused she seemed alright. The mission suit hank had whipped up for them was doing the trick. The heat from the friction hadn’t touched her. 

“You need to get outside.” Peter said as he ran up beside her. “It’s safer for everyone.” 

“Okay.” She panted. “Please just help me slow down.” 

“I’m going to, I’m going to, but you need to get outside.” Jess shoot him a worried glance and he gave her a nod. With that, Jess redirected herself for the door. 

They ran outside to the track, barely making it in once piece. Peter had to grab her and redirect her path to make it out the door without slamming into the doorpost

“I’m going to start slowing down, keep pace with me.” Peter explained as calmly as he could. He could see the panic on jess’ face, but she nodded anyway. 

“Okay...I trust you.” 

Peter started dropping his speed and Jess matched it. In two minutes they had both skidded to a stop, snow melted in a clear path behind them. Jess rested her elbows on her knees and panted. 

“That was weird.” She said between breathed and flopped onto the cold ground and looked at her hands. “That’s never happened before.” 

Peter leaned on a tree and crossed his arms. “Yeah, no kidding, you could have hurt someone.” 

“I couldn’t control it!” She threw her hands in the air and turned on him. “I wouldn’t have done that if I could’ve stopped!” 

“I know, that’s the point.” Peter said as he pushed off the tree, shoved his hands in his pockets and started towards the mansion. “You need more training. We can do some more tomorrow. Right now I need a snack.” He shook his head and muttered to himself as he trudged through the snow to the mansion. “Dang it, I sound like hank.” 

Jess sighed and stood up to follow him, not hearing his last comment. “Yeah...you’re probably right.”


	4. A bit of broken trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where has John disappeared to? No one really knows. The redheads talk and the maximoffs get mad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright peeps, listen up. This is an interesting chapter to say the least and might be the one I’m most interested to hear your thoughts and theories on, so...  
> Yeah, anyway, beyond the chapter it’s I have some art I did for Jess and John so you can all get a better idea of what they looked like. If that’s something you’d be interested in seeing let me know and I’ll post it along with the next few chapters. Stay safe out there and enjoy ;)

I’m sorry guys that I’m lazy, but all the scenes from x men apocalypse that have Erik and apocalypse and angel before the mansion explosion are exactly the same besides Vivian instead of Storm and it wasn’t Kurt who damaged angel’s wings ) I want to get to share the rest of the stories I have with you, so I shall not bore you with scenes that are the same as the movie :) (if you wish for me to write them/play around with them, let me know and I will. I just didn’t want to write anything boring for myself or for you guys.)  
...................  
Late the next morning, the whole team gathered in the kitchen for breakfast, as they always did on Saturdays.  
Jean watched them all walk in from where she sat at the table eating a bowl of cereal. 

“Did you guys forget about early morning training? I was the only one there.” She said as they all stumbled into the kitchen, still half asleep. Peter yawned and shrugged. 

“We had training?” 

Jean gave him an annoyed look and nodded. “Yeah, and you all missed it. Raven is ticked, it was supposed to be sparring.” Peter sighed and zipped over to the fridge for something good to eat as the rest of the team spread out around the room to scavenge for breakfast with different levels of annoyance written on their faces. Peter pulled out what he needed to make pancakes, balancing all then ingredients in a haphazard pile, and plopped them on the counter to get working. 

After a few minutes, Storm glanced around at everyone and said: “where’s John?” 

Everyone else looked up from their breakfast, Bobby with a spoon heaped full of milk and cereal that was half way to his mouth. 

“yeah, where’s hot head?” Scott asked. Jess shot him a glance. 

“you’re more hot headed than he is, you know that?” She said, but Scott just shrugged. 

“Maybe Charles knows where he is.” Jean Interrupted what could have turned into a Saturday morning squabble, but was promptly answered by the professor’s voice in answer. 

“I don’t I’m sorry.” His voice sounded in their heads. “But I know he’s not at the mansion...”

Everyone looked at each other, suddenly more confused than annoyed at his absence. 

“Well...” Kurt said. “I mean, I guess he’ll show up at some point...right?”  
————————————————  
TIME SKIP TO ABOUT 3 IN THE  
AFTERNOON  
John hadn't come back yet, and everyone was now starting to get even the tiniest bit worried. Even Peter had started pacing around the mansion, and by that, I mean he ran around at at least 300 miles and hour. He didn’t want to admit it to everyone else, but ever since the Stryker fiasco, whenever someone left the mansion he got a little nervous. Not *overly* nervous, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit more antsy than usual. And John...well, he had a habit of disappearing. He always had a reason, but he never left in the morning, never for this long, and never with at least telling the professor that he was going. 

After Peter ran over Jean’s ceiling for the fifth time, she dragged everyone to the professor’s office to get him to find John. 

“Professor, we still can’t find John and so we think you might want to use cerebro.” She said as they entered, before Charles even had a chance to look up from his desk. He opened his mouth to answer, when the door to the mansion opened and closed. 

Charles smiled and laughed a little bit. “I dont think that will be necessary, Jean.” He said and nodded to the open doorway right as John passed by. He looked exhausted and almost walked right past the professor’s office without noticing anyone. 

“there you are,” Jess said and zipped in front of him. “where have you been?” 

John jumped a little and stared at her for a second like he had blown a fuse. “Uh...A place.” 

“pfft, okay, where?” Jess scoffed. 

.”A place....Thats somewhere.”

Jess scowled a little and crossed her arms. “that’s stupidly vague, what’s the big deal?” She asked. “Where were you?” 

“I was somewhere that isn't here!” 

Jess looked like she was about to yell at him, took a step back, and then sped away before anyone could get a word in edgewise. John glanced at the others, meaning to get some back up on the situation, only to be met with an annoyed look from Peter. 

“dude, really?” The speedster said. “now she’s mad.”

John frowned for a moment before he shrugged again. “...whatever.”

This time peter straightened a little as his annoyance shifted into anger. “...this isn’t something to say whatever about, jess is legit mad at you.”

“I didn't wanna tell her where I was.”

Peter opened his mouth to say something, but just closed it again. Of all the things he was expecting John to say, that wasn’t one of them. That was the kind of garbage he expected from Scott, but not John. He just glared at John as he stormed off. 

John took a deep breath as he walked off, shrugging his bag further up his shoulders. He didn’t want to make them mad, could feel his temperature rising. He had to extract himself from this situation, before IT happened again. He couldn’t put his friends through that, not after he wrecked what his life was even before Stryker entered the picture. 

After John left, the room filled with an uncomfortable silence as Peter stood in the doorway, trying to decide if he was going to take off after John. 

Charles cleared his throat and drew everyone’s attention. “why don’t we all calm down.” He said. “John will come around I’m sure.” 

Peter scoffed and crossed the room to flop into one of the cushy chairs next to the professor’s bookshelves. Bobby sighed and glanced towards the door. 

“I’ll go after him.” He said. “Maybe he’ll listen to me.” With that, Bobby jogged after John, managing to catch up with him as he reached the hallway leading to the front door. 

“hey john.” Bobby called after him, but he didn’t turn around. Bobby sped up a little. 

“John! Hey!” Still John didn’t turn around. Bobby grabbed him jacket only for John to whip around and smack his hand away with a glare. They glared at each other for another moment before John pushed back off down the hallway. 

“Hey!” Bobby yelled after him again. He was beyond irritated now. He hadn’t even done anything and John was acting like it has been Bobby who got onto him when he was really the only one trying to get everyone to chill out. When John still didn’t turn around, Bobby lashed out, well, not so much as lash out as throw an involuntary snowball at him. It wasn’t fully frozen, Wasn’t even packed down, so what happened next he never saw coming. 

John screeched to a stop and grabbed his arm where the snow hit. He shot bobby a glance, no longer angry, but almost like he was in pain. It took bobby a second to realize John *was* in pain. His glare looked more like he was trying to contain a yelp or a scream. And that’s when John turned and bolted out the door. 

Bobby stood there, arm still outstretched as John slammed the front door hard enough to make the pictures on the wall rattle. He debated going after John, but thought better of it and left for his room to calm himself down.  
...........................................................  
As soon as the door slammed, John ran for it, not aiming to run away or anything, but he needed to get away from everyone. After a bit of searching he found an oak tree with branches winding around the trunk almost like steps. He climbed his way up it, melting off snow as he went. 

He’d never been a fan of cold things, especially after his powers kicked in, but this...this was something else. John took a deep breath and tried to shake the burning sensation coming from his arm, but it didn’t fade. He hissed to himself as he pulled up his sleeve to find a blotchy red spot almost like a burn. 

With a sigh, he plopped down on a wide branch in a sunspot and leaded against the trunk. The ice had *burned* him, he knew that much. He had plenty of experience looking at burns, but most of the time they were on other people...John shook his head to clear the scene playing in his mind and let his head sink between his knees. 

He had screwed up royally. Jess was mad, Peter was mad, Heck, even Bobby was mad and his arm would stop *burning*. 

Time passed as he sat in the tree. The sunspot he was sitting in shifted away from him as the light faded. Just a little while after that and he was shivering, uncomfortably cold even in his winter jacket and all the while his arm just hurt worse. It was the cold, he guessed, but he refused to go inside. He just needed...space. 

It wasn’t until Jean called up at him from the ground that he realized just how long he’d been up there. 

“John! Hey, why are you in a tree?”

He looked down at her, teeth chattering as he spoke. “I escaped Bobby by being up here.” 

Jean frowned and squinted up at him. “You’ve been up here for hours.” 

“I...yeah I know.” 

Jean sighed and looked around before climbing up the tree to sit in the branch across from him. She wrapped her jacket a little closer around herself and looked John up and down. 

“You look cold.” 

“I am.” 

Jean sighed again and focused on the blanket of snow below them as she let her legs dangle in the air, kicking them back and forth. “why did you run away from Bobby.” She asked. “He said all he did was hit you with a snow ball and you kinda lost it. He wasn’t even throwing that hard.” 

John instinctively grabbed the burn and winced. “It hurt.” He answered after a bit. “It felt like....burning, I guess. It was weird, like, really weird...if you couldn’t tell, I'm not really used to that feeling.” 

“has this happened before? With the snow, I mean.” 

John met Jean’s gaze for a moment before staring at his shoes as another shiver attacked him. “One time at school,” he started and swallowed. “someone dumped a bucket of water on me...It wasn't as cold as snow though and i didn't notice any burning sensation. It just kind of stung, but...well, I got........distracted.” 

Jean watched him try and fail to effectively explain what happened, but didn’t push it. Unease and anxiety rolled off of John in waves. Even without her telepathy she could tell how uncomfortable he looked. At first she thought it was just the cold, but just a touch of her powers told her it was deeper than that. 

“well, okay. That’s weird. Have you talked to hank about it?” She asked, then thought better and tried to lighten the mood. “Does it happen when you drink water too? When was the last time you had ice cream?” 

John stared at Jean for another long second before laughing and shaking his head. “I have not talked to Hank about it. I don't usually drink ice cold water. And...” he seemed to think about it for a moment. “I don't know the exact last time I had ice cream” 

Jean was silent for a second before she went on. “...I think you should talk to hank and Charles about this.” 

“Maybe. I don't feel like going back inside at all though. I don't really wanna face anyone in there right now. Especially the Maximoffs.” 

“John, you look absolutely frozen solid, you need to go inside.” 

John shrugged. “I’ll be fine.” 

“Do you feel fine?” 

“......not really.” 

Jean nodded and pulled herself to grab the trunk and offered a hand out to John. “Come on.” She said with a nod towards the mansion.  
”beyond it being like the arctic out here, you do need to talk to hank. This could be another part of our mutation that you don’t know about. And as for the maximoffs, you’re going to have to face them eventually.” 

“I know, but that doesn’t mean I have to face them right now.” 

“It’s go inside or freeze to death.” 

“I guess you’re right...” John sighed as he took her hand. She pulled him up and he hissed as the ache in his arm spiked, but Jean didn’t seem to notice. She was already half way down the tree. 

They walked back to the mansion with only the sounds of snow crunching below their shoes. Once inside, John sighed with relief as the heat hit him. He hadn’t quite realized just how cold it was, but now it was clear he was nearly frozen through, and yet...his arm still burned and it was driving him insane. Why couldn’t he just handle cold like a normal person? 

Even so, he tried to break away for his room, only for Jean to redirect him towards the lab. He sighed to himself, but started down the last flight of stairs when a silver blur stopped in front of him. 

Jess looked at him with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “there you are. John.” 

“uh, hi...”

Jess crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “care to tell me where you were this afternoon?” 

John took a step back and sighed. “Look, I'm sorry about what happened, but....I've been judged for things in the past and I don't wanna be judged again.” 

Jess looked at him with a stone cold glare. “okay. Well...too late because I’ve judged you a little for your unwillingness to tell me what you were doing.” She stopped and bit her lip for a second. “you really trust me that little?” 

“I trust you, but...the walls I've built up are.....pretty strong.” 

Jess sighed before speeding away. “...I’m sorry I couldn’t let you trust me enough to let me in.” And then she was gone. Off to her room, trying not to cry.


	5. Failed repairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John talks to Hank, and Peter talks to John

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friday update! Needless to say...there was not an overwhelming call for the art pieces, lol, that’s okay, I shall respect the group choice. I hope you enjoy this chapter, don’t be afraid to leave feedback of any kind :)

John watched Jess run off, well not so much as watch as felt the wind ruffle his hair from how fast she left. He sighed to himself, just staring at the door to Hank’s lab for a moment. He felt really bad about the whole thing, but he just couldn't bring himself to tell anyone. He didn't wanna be teased with the endless nicknames again. He didn’t want to get too close, the risks were too great. He’d been through enough of that. 

He sighed again and pushed open the door to Hank’s lab. Unlike most of the mansion, the bottom floor was built of steel rods and paneling. It only held the danger room, hank’s lab and the attached med bay. The medical bay had never been put to much use other than when Scott and Kurt came down with a bad cold in early November after a late night out on Halloween. In light of his powers spazzing out, John really had no idea how he hadn’t caught cold as well. He was just lucky, he guessed. 

When John cracked the door open, Hank was in his human form, leaned over a microscope with piles of notes strewn all across his desk. John cleared just throat to let the doctor know he was there. 

Hank didn’t jump and didn’t look up.  
“hello John,” He said as he continued scribbling down his findings. “I heard you come in, what do you need?” 

“Something weird is happening.” John answered, not questioning how Hank had known it was him. “...and I think its part of my mutation.” 

That got Hank to look up immediately and he pushed himself away from his desk on his rolling chair to slide across the tiled floor towards John. 

“What kind of weird things?” He asked. 

“Weird things with anything cold. Like, Bobby hit me with a snowball and it...It burned.”

Hank furrowed his brow a little and rolled closer to John. “burned? Like how snow usually stings? Where were you hit?” He asked, becoming more and more excited with each question. “Does it still hurt? How long has this been going on? How much has this happened without you telling me?” 

John held out his arms defensively and only had a chance to talk when Hank paused to take a breath. “Slow down. It felt like hot burning? I guess. Like fire, but it wasn't fire, obviously. It was in the arm. Doesn't hurt *that* much.” John lied, though not by too much. The heat of the mansion made the ache dull a bit. At least the snowball didn’t hit bare skin. John shuttered a little bit at the thought of how that would feel. 

Hank watched him and raised an eyebrow. “And how long has this been going on?”

“I don't know...a while, but never this bad.”

Hank squinted at him before he rolled back towards his desk and scribbled down some notes. “Well, I want to do a full evaluation,” Hank said and spun around in his chair again. “does tomorrow afternoon work for you?”

“Yeah that works.” 

“perfect, I want to see where you were burnt right now though, it might fade by tomorrow.” 

John took off his jacket, trying not to wince and rolled up his sleeve to show the burn. The area was red and puffy, exactly like a normal burn. 

Hank looked it over and poked the red spot. “did that hurt?” He asked as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. 

John winced. “Just a bit.” 

“well by all accounts it looks like a mild second degree burn, but one; it was cold.” Hank glanced up at him again. “And two, you are resistant to heat, are you not?” 

“Yeah I am.” 

Hanks folded his arms across his chest and spun around on his rolling stool with a sigh. “if I had to guess you have a reverse heat index of some sort. We can get it figured out tomorrow.” As he came spinning to a stop he laughed a little. “I have to say though, this is fascinating.” 

“Not when you can't eat ice cream.” John said with a grin as he folded up his jacket. 

Hank chuckled and shrugged. “that’s fair, but you can’t get burnt either.” 

John held up his arm to show the angry red burn. Hank shook his head with a sigh. “Okay, correction. You can’t get burned by hot things. I’ll meet you here tomorrow after classes.”  
With that he rolled back to his desk and microscope to continue his research.  
John watched him for a few seconds before turning back to the hallway. He barely made it up the stairs when yet another silver blur came to a screeching halt in front of him. This time, however, it was Peter. He seemed casual enough, with his hands in the pockets of his silver jacket, but as he paced in front of him, John could tell it was just the calm before the storm. 

“hey, so uh, do you have any idea why Jess is crying?” Peter asked as he turned briskly back to John. John cringed a bit and shrugged 

“I couldn't say for certain.” He mumbled and tried to walk past him, but Peter kept scooting in front of him for several steps and finally shoved him backwards when in John didn’t stop. 

“hey!” Peter snapped as John stumbled backwards from the push. “Would you take a second to realize how serious this is?! Jess doesn’t cry at random things!” 

John kept his gaze locked on the floor. “I don't know her that well, what do you expect me to do?” 

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe tell her where you were!” Peter yelled before he took a breath to calm himself down. “I don’t even care where you were, but I don’t like to see Jess cry.” 

“I-I'm just not ready to open up that much.”

“why?”

“I'm just....not, okay? I've been called every name in the book.

Peter didn’t look satisfied. “so? We all have.” He said. “Do you know how many times I’ve been called grandpa? it’s ridiculous.” 

John Bit his lip for a second before trying to force his way past the speedster. Peter this time lashed out and speed shoved John backwards, sending him with a thud into the door to the lab. 

“Dude, what the heck!?!” John yelled, balling his hands into fists. He tried to take a deep breath, tried to calm down, tried to force his temperature down, but he couldn’t push down his anger anymore. Even so, Peter went on with his own rant. 

“stop ignoring us!!! Do you know how annoying it is to be engaged in a conversation with someone who, after you wait what feels like forever, just doesn’t talk to you!! I’m so sick and tired of it, I only have so much patience!!” Peter took a breath and the boys glared at each other for a moment before he went on. “I tried to give you a chance to tell me what happened, but you failed at that. Jess already told me what happened, hot head. Now, can you honestly give me a good reason why wouldn’t tell her?” 

“I can give you two! One: because it’s my business, I’ve been called names for ages by people I thought were friends all because I told them! And two: because if they don’t make fun of me, if they stick with me then they get hurt! You know why??! I get close to them, I’d do anything for them, BUT I CANT! ALL I DO IS MESS THINGS UP!! BECAUSE IM FIRE!!!! FIRE IS NOTHING BUT DESTRUCTION!!!! FIRE BURNS ANYTHING IN ITS PATH!!!!!! AND I CANT LET THAT HAPPEN TO YOU GUYS!!” John took a breath and screwed his eyes shut as Peter stood there frozen with shock. “Fire burns anyone who gets close to it, so the only solution-“ John sniffed. “Is to not let anyone close to me.” 

With that, John made another go at pushing past the speedster. Peter let him go, but shouted halfheartedly after him. “Fire brings warmth too, you know!”


	6. Running on thin ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles has a much needed talk with John. Running Training for Jess doesn’t go as expected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU! I just want to say thank you to all the readers who have followed this story so far, I hope you continue to enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it. I’ll see you all again on Wednesday

John just kept running, up the stairs, down the hallway, and was almost outside when the door to the professor’s office opened and Charles was sitting in the doorway. 

“May I talk to you, please, John?” Charles asked and nodded towards the inside of his study. 

“I would rather not, Professor,” John sniffed and tried to hide the fact that he was almost crying. “I was just going outside, I-“

“I’m not, asking.” Charles said. “Come inside.” With that he rolled back towards his desk, not checking to see if John followed. The young mutant in question stood in the hallway, uncertain. One of the last things John wanted to do was talk it out with the professor. Memories of *IT* came flooding back like they hadn’t in months, leaving him torn between breaking down and telling Charles everything and running back out to his favorite tree. Then he remembered the cold and launched into a deeper confusion over what to do. 

“John, I’m a telepath, whether you tell me on purpose or not, you’re thinking rather loudly.” Charles said with a soft smile. “Besides that, your parents already told me what happened, I already know.” 

Fear froze John as effectively as a blizzard in that moment. Watching Charles watch him, knowing he could see and hear all his buzzing thoughts was terrifying. The professor chuckled dryly and sighed as he brought a hand to his temple. A sense of peace filled John as Charles worked his telepathy magic. 

“Better?”

“Yeah.”

“Would you care to come inside now?”

“Yeah.” John walked inside and plopped into the chair in front of Charles’ desk. The professor studied him from the other side with his hands neatly folded in his lap before he sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. 

“I heard you had an argument with Peter...and you aren’t just fire, John, you must stop thinking that.” He said after getting a glimpse of John’s thoughts. “None of us are defined by our powers, you are so much more that just your mutant abilities.” Charles said with that same gentle smile, but John was unconvinced. 

“Then why do I act like I'm just fire? I hurt everyone around me,” he said, the fleeting sense of peace now entirely forgotten. “physically and emotionally, it happens to everyone I get close to.” 

“you’re still leaning about your powers and you are no worse than anyone else on the team.” Charles said. “Peter and Jess are both impulsive, and they are even kleptomaniacs, do you judge them for that?”

John sighed, “no” 

“and Jean, she’s introverted, quite sensitive.” The professor continued with a wave of his hand as he leaned back in his wheelchair. “Kurt is skittish, and shy from his experiences. Do you blame them for that?”

“no.” 

“then-“ Charles leaned forward again to rest his elbows on the desk for emphasis. “there is no reason to beat yourself up over what your powers unintentionally cause. I do think you could be more open with the team though. I know you’ve had...rough experiences, I know the ordeal before Stryker was a lot to deal with on top of being kidnapped, but my goal is to have a family unit here. And that has to be built on trust, you can’t run around with so many secrets. No one will judge you for your interests.” 

“...I guess you're right.” John said as realization dawned on him. Guilt rushed back just a moment later, but Charles tried his best to ease the feeling. 

“I am a professor. You’ll find I’m right most of the time.” He chuckled   
John laughed a bit at that and sank further in his chair. 

“so are you going to tell them where you were?” Charles asked. 

“...I don’t know...I’m guessing you know?” 

“I do, yes, and I think it’s a wonderful hobby.” 

“not everyone thinks that.” 

Charles sighed and gave John a very serious look. “If anyone is going to understand; it will be your team.”   
....................  
THE NEXT AFTERNOON   
John avoided the maximoffs like the plague all through classes even after the talk with the professor and, well, even if he was ready to talk to them, they weren’t too found of seeing him either. After normal classes were done, they had even less reason to interact. John had his  
Appointment with Hank and Peter was once again trying to get Jess to keep a good handle on her speed. 

“Okay, let’s try this again, focus on my speed and match it, even when I stop.” Peter instructed Jess as he laced up his snow boots. 

“Yep, just like cruse Control.” Jess said. She jumped up from the couch and offered peter a hand up. 

“Exactly.” 

Both of them were still fuming at what happened with John, but running was the best was to blow off some steam, they both agreed. So they blew past John in the hallway without a second thought and a fraction of a second later the two were outside on the track. 

“Alright, be careful, don’t run into anyone, if you’re out of control, aim away from the mansion” Peter went over his instructions for the third time, counting them off on his fingers. “Oh, and if you REALLY need to stop, run into a patch of snow.” 

Jess nodded, shivering as she jumped from foot to foot.   
“I’m so cold right now that I think I could will myself to stop before it came to that.” She said, teeth chattering violently. “Can we just get running so I can warm up?” 

Peter grinned at her and rolled his eyes. “You’re almost as bad as John is with the cold, gosh, but if you’re so desperate, then yes. Ready. Set-“ both maximoff leaned forward, ready to take off. “Go!” 

Jess and Peter zipped around the track together, melting a path in the thin layer of snow that had settled there the night before. Peter varied his speed and Jess matched it step for step. It went well for a few minutes, as long as they were in super speed. But when Peter dropped to around 50 miles an hour Jess zoomed on past him. 

“Focus, Jess! We won’t ever be able to speed the team places if this keeps happening!” Peter called to her as she flew by him again. 

“You think I’m not focusing?! I can’t slow do-“ 

Peter looked around the track in disbelief, trying to catch sight of her. He knew he should have convinced her to wear a red shirt to stand out against to white around them. As it was the silver of her jacket blended in perfectly with the snow. 

“Jess?” Peter yelled, but was only met with the light whistle of the wind. He cursed to himself, trying to fight down panic rising up inside of him, and sped up to a “light” jog and took a lap around the mansion. 

“Jess, where are you?!” 

Still no reply. He checked all inside the mansion, ran all across the grounds, even across the pond, Twice and still couldn’t find her. With one last lap around the mansion he broadened the search radius, calling her name the whole way. 

Now fully in super speed mode, Peter ran into outskirts of New York. Any idea of keeping calm was abandoned as he sprinted down the snow speckled streets. If he hadn’t been looking for his missing sister he would have slowed down to enjoy the warm Christmas lights strung up lamp posts and around trees, winding and curling around the branches. But Jess was missing, so he zipped past the decorations without a second thought. 

“Jess!! ****, did I loose my sister?” He muttered to himself as he wove through the traffic as if it was standing still. His legs started to hurt and cramp in the cold, but he kept running. Through Times Square, China town, and all the way to the other side of New York. As he ran, his thoughts began to creep up on him. How had he been so stupid?? He should have kept a closer eye on her. He knew she didn’t have a good handle on stopping, heck, that was the whole reason they were practicing, and he had let Jess just speed away to who knows where. Peter hoped more than anything that she was still in New York and not in Arizona somewhere. 

He cursed to himself again and skidded to a stop in a small suburban neighborhood as the cars around him lurched a bit. he needed a break, big time. Even so, Peter promised himself that he’d only rest for a second, even though he had a wicked stitch in his side and couldn’t seem to get his lungs to take a full breath in the cold. As he sat, he bounced his leg up and down, still not able to keep perfectly still from built up anxiety and went over the best course of action in his head. He knew it was impossible to check everywhere and he should probably head back to the mansion to get charles to find her, but something told him she was near by. 

So Peter sat on a bus stop bench, trying to decide what to do. He was so consumed in his thoughts he didn’t process what was going on around him. Not the businessman arguing about the stock market. Not the mother trying to get her child to keep his hat on. Not the girl who was slushing through the snow in nothing but a short sleeved shirt and old jeans with holes in the knees. All he could think about was Jess and whether or not she was freezing in an alleyway somewhere. 

“Gah, I’m wasting time.” He said under his breath and massaged his temples for a second before jumping back up to continue the search. ‘Maybe I should just wait for her to come to me, that might be better-no, that’s a horrible idea. I have to keep looking.’ Peter thought before he took off again. He ran through the neighborhood, and nearly collapsed with relief when he finally found her sitting on a swing set in the local park. 

“There you are!!” He said with the biggest smile on his face. in less  
Than a second he was in front of her, though quite out of breath. 

“Yay! You found me,” Jess said sleepily from where she was hugging the swing chain like it was made of gold. “I’m so hungry, but I thought I was going to pass out so once I stopped I sat down as soon as I could, sorry, I would’ve run back, but I’m too tired.” She explained, rather rushed and a bit stuttery. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Peter insisted as he wrapped her in a bone crushing hug. “You’re cold, tired and hungry. it’s alright, but you scared me half to death. Come on, we can get some churros and grab a taxi for at least part of the way.” 

Jess nodded and hopped off the swing only to sway dangerously as soon as she took a step. Peter caught her by the elbow and supported her as they wandered back through the neighborhood, both too tired to speed. 

the churros Peter procured and warm heater of the taxi brought moral up considerably and the maximoffs were soon back to their fidgety selves, at least, after Jess took a nap in the taxi. 

The ride back to the mansion was a manageable 45 minutes, but Peter and Jess were thankful when they could get out of the cramped car, even if it meant getting back into the cold. As the taxi pulled away and they started back towards the mansion another car approached from behind them. 

Peter and Jess turned to look down the road. In one of charles’ classic cars, Scott, Jean, Kurt, storm, and Bobby all rode. Jess grinned at Peter and elbowed him in the side.

“I bet we can beat them back.” 

“I bet we can.” 

The siblings sped off before the rest of the team had even processed they were standing by the gate, though Peter watched Jess like a hawk the whole way. They jogged up the gravel driveway, laughing together about how they would scare the snot out of the team when a shock wave, type boom hit them both. 

“What was that?” Jess asked, looking over to find Peter just as confused as she was. 

“I dont kn-JOHN!” Peter’s eyes widened in realization and he started for the mansion at top speed. 

“What? What about him?” Jess rushed to catch up and nearly slipped. 

“It’s exploding, Jess, the mansion is exploding.” He stopped kind enough to grab her by the shoulder. “Stay here.” 

“But I can help!” She yelled, pulled away from him and continued on towards the mansion. “ I have powers now, Peter! I can help!” 

“You can’t control them!” He grabbed her wrist again and pulled her back. “We just ran all across New York I’m not letting you run into an explosion, now stay put.” 

Jess opened her mouth to protest, but stopped. For once he actually made sense, so she let him run off without her towards the mansion with a last “be careful!”


	7. Playing with fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, the mansion blows up, and this is why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wednesday! You know what that means, an update! Thank you all those readers out there, this is a short, but exciting chapter. Enjoy! Also, I’d love to hear what everyone’s favorite rare super power is, I’m collecting a list of them :)

“hello?” John called as he knocked on the lab door. After a few seconds of no answer he was about to knock again when Hank’s voice came from inside. 

“come in.” He said simply. John took a breath, pushed the door open and shuffled in. Peter and Jess were still angry at him and he hadn’t even seen Jess besides at training that morning. He had almost gotten smacked by a sentinel. Jess got him out of the way in time, but didn’t even respond when he thanked her.   
Hank glanced up from his papers with a quizzical look. 

“are you alright?

“What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” John answered once he snapped out of his mini trance. Hank raised an eyebrow at him, obviously not believing that he was “fine” no matter how much he insisted. Even so, he simply nodded and gestured over to a black outfit of some sort folded neatly on one of the exam tables. 

“Go ahead and get changed and we can get started.” He said as he slid back on to his stool. John squinted at the outfit. 

“Is that my fire proof suit?”

“Yeah. “Hank said as he sorted through a file and pulled out a couple pens. “Just in case this goes south.” 

John nodded as he picked up and unfolded his “mission” suit. He didn’t blame hank for taking precautionary measures. He would have done the same; but the fire extinguisher by the doctor’s desk still made him nervous. “how long is this going to take?” 

Hank shrugged. “at least an hour, maybe more.” 

John sighed but went to go get changed. When he came back he hopped up on one of the beds and sat crisscrossed as he waited for Hank. He glanced around the room, trying to find something interesting, but it was mostly just metal. After another minute he looked back towards Hank who was still scribbling away. 

“so what now?” John asked. 

“I plan to start with slowly exposing you to lower temperatures, to see how low the temperature has to get to trigger negative effects.” The doctor answered and after a moment added, “...if that’s alright with you, of course.” 

John shrugged. “It’ll be fine.” 

For the next 45 minutes, Hank took John through a whole series of tests, Charles had even come down to talk to them. John was just about to get changed again when a portal opened in the lab and five people stepped out. At the head of which was a massive blue mutant. Behind him, Erik held out his hand and Charles’ wheelchair started speeding towards them

The professor was shouting something, so was Hank, but the blue mutant seemed unfazed as Charles glided steadily towards him. 

Before John was fully thinking he lashed out before he processed hank yelling “NO”. Fire shot from his hands towards the group, barely missing Charles as John directed it around him. The four behind the blue mutant cringed in anticipation of being scorched, but the The blue mutant himself just raised a hand and put up a force field that absorbed the fire like a sponge. 

John stood their open mouthed with his hands still outstretched. Charles was still shouting, but the blue guy tutted to himself and only had to touch his forehead to get him to pass out. and then, he turned to squint at John. 

The fire bender took a step back, but was somehow frozen in place as the other spoke. 

“you are powerful my child, yet...” the blue one spoke with a gravelly voice that made John shudder. He cocked his head to the side as his eyes turned white. “so volatile.” 

In the next moment, the wind was knocked out of John like he had gotten hit with a battering ram right in the chest. He stumbled and fell as his brain tried to make sense of the feeling boiling inside of him. His eyes widened in panic in realization. This was IT

“oh no...” John whispered in a shuddering breath. Apocalypse smiled at him before disappearing in the portal with Charles along with the rest of his posse. John turned to hank in a panic as his temperature spiked and a familiar reddish-orange glow snaked up his torso. And when he looked up at the doctor, it was like something Hank had never seen. He’d seen John’s powers in action, but this...this was something else. Now, his eyes glowed red like a sunset in hell and there was no turning back. 

“You gotta get out, Hank, NOW!” John yelled at the doctor who was backed up against the lab door, eyes wide as he watched the young mutant loose control. John took a lurching step back, trying to put distance between Hank and himself, but he knew it was useless. He knew what was coming and it was already too late to stop it. It came faster this time, fire and heat rolled off of him in waves as his knees buckled out from under him and he yelled into nothing with panic and frustration. 

No matter how hard he tried to keep this bottled up, it came back with added fire. When Hank took a step towards him, he screamed. 

“NO! Hank, NO’ I’m going to explode, I’m sorry, I can’t-I can’t stop it-I I’m trying but- I CANT-“ John yelled, tears streaming down his face as he watched his powers attack the room. but hank himself was gone in the blink of an eye. The room was already consumed by fire, there was no way hank could have gotten out in time, unless...thank God for the maximoffs. 

John pulled his legs up to his chest and grabbed his head in his hands as the deafening roar of an active explosion rushed around him. It would be over soon, he knew, an explosion took only a moment after all. He tried to give the maximoffs some time to get everyone out, but only two seconds later, the true explosion hit. John was launched backwards from the force of it into the metal wall and sank to the floor with a groan as his vision spun. Even though the heat couldn’t touch him, the impact jarred him to the bone. 

All around him, the flames danced in a hazy mass of color as the room collapsed with a crackling crash before he closed his eyes and surrendered to the darkness creeping in the edges of his vision. 

.......................

John coughed and gagged as he inhaled a mouthful of ash. He blinked several times, looking up at a pale grey sky speckled by white flakes that he thought was snow. After a moment, John realized that it wasn’t snow. It was ash. From the explosion he caused. 

John groaned and tried to role over, but a crushing weight on his chest kept him pinned. He forced his head up and was met by a splintering wooden beam just a few inches from him face. He groaned again and let his head fall back into the pile of soot and mansion remains in which he was laying. He felt like....he didn't know how he felt. He was....scared. Really really scared, like he hadn’t been since the first time he exploded so spectacularly. With that fear came an emptiness he’d known only once before, triggered by stretching his powers to the limit. He felt used up, almost like a crushed tin can. 

IT had happened again. The one thing he feared the most. Every negative emotion crash onto him at once, but fear was at the top of the pile, heaping down weight on him like the beam that was nearly crushing him. 

John knew he was laying down in a heap of what used to be the mansion. The chill air whipped above him, carrying soot and ash with it in a salt and pepper colored blizzard. The last thing John wanted to do was sit up and see people dead around him, if he could sit up that is. The only parts of him he could move was his head and left arm. 

Memories of the last time this happened flooded his mind. The last thing he wanted was someone to get hurt because of him again. Oh god, he hoped no one got hurt. He tried to call out for someone, anyone, but yell died in his throat and left him gasping for air that wouldn’t come as he clawed weakly at the wooden support that restricted his oxygen. 

Tears threatened to fall out of John's eyes, both from lack of air and guilt. This was his fault. He could've done something, maybe. Could've saved the school...

John held his breath and strained to hear anything above the whistling of the wind. He could have sworn he heard something. For a moment, there was only silence. Then the quiet buzz of voices came from somewhere to John’s right, past a section of collapsed wall that kept him from seeing what the heck was going on. It took a moment, but he managed to focus in on the voices. 

“Peter! Thank goodness,” Jess was saying. “you got everyone right?” There was another pause and another desperate “right?!” From Jess before Peter answered. 

“I-well, I-“ 

A bang, sounding something like a car door slamming, interrupted the maximoff’s hushed conversation and Jean’s voice carried across the rumble, sounding like she was running. 

“Oh god, what happened!?” 

“the school exploded,” Peter explained. “But-but, well...I couldn’t find John.” 

John sucked in as deep of a breath as he could manage, but could only whisper a weak: “I’m not dead.” 

“I, the-the last thing I said to him was-was-“ Jess said. “...that he didn’t trust me...” 

John tried his hardest to shout, but he just couldn't. Yet another thing to feel bad for, he could just add it to the list. He could only pray they realized where he was before he actually died by being squished by the wooden post. 

“guys, guys, wait.” Jean said. John could almost imagine the way her hand went to her temple in concentration and smiled weakly to himself. 

“what?” Jess asked. 

“he’s still alive!”


	8. Ash and snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the dust settles, the team looks desperately for John. Hank and Raven try to figure out their next move

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys, welcome back, hope you enjoy. Stay safe out there :)

“He’s still alive!” Jean shouted and sprinted for what was left of the mansion. The team exchanged glances for only a second before everyone started running along with her.

The maximoffs ran ahead, carefully picking their way through the rubble. Relief filled Jess, though the panic and loss was still painfully present. After all, they hadn’t found John yet. Jean said he was alive, but...she had been wrong before. Jess took a break, trying to clear her head, but only succeeded in coughing on the ash in the air. 

Jess squinted across the crater, laughing for a moment at how everything besides Peter was frozen in place with a full range of ridiculous expressions on their faces.

Jess wiped the grime of her goggles and ran a few more strides to jump over one of the only support beams in the mass that hadn’t been blown to bits and landed only about foot away from John’s leg. She skidded to a stop, nearly slipping on the slick ground. 

“Guys! Over here!” She yelled out to everyone. John looked up at her with wide eyes and tried to take a full breath as she knelt next to him, trying to assess the damage. 

“Oh, thank god you’re not dead.” Jean breathed as she tried to keep from crying. The rest of the team filled in around Jess, all looking down at John with concern written across their faces. 

“Are you alright?” Peter asked. John gasped silently and shook his head as he tried to motion to them to get the beam off of him, but he couldn’t get his arms to move right. 

“no, he’s not, but he’s going to get crushed if we don’t get this off of him!” Kurt said as he gestured to the support beam and took his place beside it. Jess rolled her eyes and looked up at him from where she kelt with a “no duh” look. Honestly, just finding John alive was enough for her snark to come back full force. 

John nodded much less effectively than he would have liked in agreement with Kurt before he let his head fall back to the ground. 

Scott stepped carefully around the beam, trying to assess the situation. “can’t you teleport him out, Kurt?” He asked and glanced up at the teleporter. Kurt shook his head as he shifted from foot to foot, tail wrapped tightly around him.

“not if he’s touching the beam like that.” Kurt said, his accent becoming thicker as he got more and more nervous. “I-i don’t know, if it comes with us, then it might crush him, see how big it is.” Kurt pointed down the beam and how it was still attached to two other two-feet thick beams before it splittered off.

Scott nodded, his brow furrowed above his glasses as he stood back up. 

“Guys, we need to stop wasting time.” Peter said and zipped beside the support. “John’s not gonna last too much longer before he becomes a pancake, come on.” His last two words shifted into more of a grunt as he started lifting the post. It cracked and shifted ever so slightly, and Peter nodded desperately to the rest of the team. “Don’t leave me hangin’ guys.” 

The rest of the teens jumped to help Peter, Jean using her powers as everyone else strained to remove the wooden beam. They lifted it about half a foot, John’s legs were still trapped, when they got stuck.

“Come on guys, lift!” Scott shouted. Peter scowled to himself and shot him a glance. 

“We are, Scott.” He grunted, but didn’t have enough him to think of a better retort. 

They almost started to panic, all of them shaking under the weight of the support when Hank appeared, wonderful, blue, furry Hank, and grabbed the base of the offending piece of wood. With his help, the x men lugged the support off of John and let it drop to the ground with a booming thud. With the pressure home, John gasped in the first full breath he had gotten since the explosion and gave them all a halfhearted thumbs up. 

John groaned and just laid there for a moment after his hand fell back to the ground before Bobby offered him a hand up. “how are you feeling?” He asked as he pulled John to his feet. He swayed a little as he stood and glanced around at his team before he answered. 

“Uh,” John swallowed and looked back to Bobby with a weak grin. “exhausted.” everyone laughed a little and Bobby shook his head. 

“Yeah I can tell.” 

“...so what happened?” Jess asked after Hank checked John over for injuries. He had a few cuts and bruises, and definitely a bruised rib or two, but over all he would be okay. 

John looked up at the question and kind of froze for a moment before he could answer. “Ummm...A blue guy and some other guys came through a portal.” He explained with a wave of his hand. “They took the professor.” 

“We have a lot of blue guys around here,” Peter joked, earning a chuckle from Hank. “You’ll have to be more specific, dude.” 

John gave him a look and shook his head. “It wasn’t any of our blue guys.” He said. “It was somebody else, I don’t know, but he was huge, and he had magneto with him, a guy with wings, and a couple of girls, or women, I guess.” 

Peter squinted in faux concentration before shaking his head. “Nah, I’m sure I didn’t see them.” 

John shot him a playful glare. “they left before you got there, quicksilver.” He said mockingly, but Peter just shrugged as a grin spread across his face. 

“Impossible.” 

John raised an eyebrow. “Oh, Very possible, I-“ 

“Oh whatever.” Jess said dismissively with a wave of her hand. “but what happened with the explosion?” 

The jovial atmosphere which had just redeveloped disappeared as soon as the question left Jess’ mouth. John looked away from everyone else, towards the trees on the edge of the clearing, untouched by the explosion.

“...John? What happened?” Jess asked, softer this time. 

“......This is Something I legitimately don't wanna talk about. I'll tell you where I was, I'll tell you any other things. Just please don't make me talk about this.” John said and looked back at Jess, basically begging her to let the issue drop. 

Jess opened her mouth again and froze as her thoughts swirled up a storm in her head. Unlike last time, the look in John’s eyes wasn’t just annoyance. There was fear there like she’d never seen in him before, a kind a weakness that she never saw coming. It blindsided her, so much so she almost stumbled. Jess let her hand fall to her side and nodded slightly. 

“I-...okay.” She sighed. John blinked at her, almost in disbelief before he nodded as well. The team stood there in silence for a moment, though it wasn’t awkward. It was more just...relishing the fact that no one was dead for a minute before diving into the headache of what to do next. 

A little bit away from the mansion crater, the rest of the students were huddled in a confused group, shaking in the cold as it began to snow. A few of the younger kids were crying, who Raven was trying to sooth as the team picked their way out of the wreckage. 

“Roll call.” Hank cupped his hands and shouted to the students, whose heads all snapped his way at the noise. “Do we have everyone?” 

Jean nodded as she stepped up behind him. “Yeah.” She said. “Everyone expect Charles.” 

Hank cursed and took off his glasses to run a hand through his fur. The kids who had gathered around him all started whispering about where Charles had gone off to, most of them seemed to like the idea that it had something to do with magneto until Raven shhed them all and launched into a hushed conversation with Hank that none of the x men cared to hear. Once they figured out what to do, they would give out instructions. 

Jean left them to their plans and wandered back over to her team, who were scattered in a loose circles in different levels of shock. John sat furtherest away from them all, with his knees pulled up to his chest as he stared up at the ash mingling with the snow that had begun to fall. 

Jean almost winced at the guilt and fear that hit her when she got to close. It was sickening. Kurt was his typical bundle of nerves, Bobby mimicked John’s feelings, though much less extreme. Storm was oldly calm, even given the circumstances, and didn’t take her eyes off John. And The maximoffs...well, as usual, their thoughts were a freight train that passed Jean by, leaving her windswept and overwhelmed. The slight furrow in their brows, despite the matching grins they wore, spoke more to their emotions than their whirlwind of thoughts. It was all...it was all a bit too much. 

Jean closed her eyes as she sat next to Scott on the edge of the crater, sucked in a breath, and held it, just as the professor told her. Hold to ten...out for ten...in for ten more and repeat. It was calming, to focus just on her own emotions as the team’s scattered thoughts buzzed around in her head like an enraged hive of bees. 

Scott rested his head on her shoulder. The pressure was grounding, acted as a center to pull Jean back to reality before she wandered too deeply in her own mind. She smiled slightly and let her own head rest on Scott’s. 

With another deep breath in, Jean swore to herself that, if only just this once, she would let herself enjoy this moment with him.


	9. Snatched

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *sing song voice* guess who shows up at the mansion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back guys, I hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for any comments and kudos, I love them all. Enjoy and stay safe!

“Do you think-“ storm broke the silence after several minutes. “Do you think the professor will be able to rebuild this place?” She said with a wave towards the crater of rubble. 

“Probably.” Peter said as he leaned back with his hands folded behind his head. “The prof has loads of cash, like its ridiculous.” 

Storm laughed dryly and shook her head. “Yeah, I guess.” 

“Oh god.” Jean whispered, almost like a sob. “The professor, who knows where-“

“Don’t go there.” Scott interrupted and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll find him.” 

“How, Scott? How?! We have no leads. The guys who took him literally poofed In and out just as well as Kurt.” She mumbled as she let her head sink into her hands. “How are we going to find him?” 

“Well...Magneto is with him, so we have a lead.” 

Jean scoffed, but didn’t look up. “He wasn’t much help when the professor knew him, he’s been on the run for ages without detection, how do you expect us to find magneto?” 

“Magneto!” Peter nearly shouted and made everyone jump. 

“What?! Where?” 

“No, no, Kurt.” Peter shhed him. “Magneto. The prof wanted to talk to me after training with Jess. He said it had something to do with magneto, but-“

“But now we have no idea where he is.” Jean finished for him and leaned into Scott’s shoulder a bit more. 

From the side of the circle, John bit his lip and looked away from his friends towards the trees, chin still resting on his knees. He didn’t particularly want to drown with Jean in worry over the professor, he was doing a good enough job of that on his own. 

He sniffed and wiped his nose on his fire proof suit. Unfortunately, it didn’t do much to block out the cold and Peter hadn’t thought to grab a couple jackets while the mansion was exploding. Over all, John Hated that the professor was missing, it made his insides twist when he remembered the look on the telepath’s face when the blue guy knocked him out like he was nothing. 

It wouldn’t be easy to get the professor back, but John sure wished it was. He didn’t just feel drained, he was drained. He tried kicking on his powers, just a little, to get his temperature up, but it didn’t do anything but leave him out of breath. John winced as he shifted to wrap an arm around his ribs, but didn’t draw attention to himself. He didn’t deserve everyone’s attention and worry right now, or at least he sure as heck didn’t want it. All he wanted was to find Charles alive, and hopefully, safe. 

John glanced back over to the group as the crunch of gravel came from behind him. Bobby and Jess approached him, looking like they were about to tell him whatever plan Hank had thought up, when a gust of wind and a roar of a helicopter interrupted their progress. 

Everyone watched a squad of helicopters come into view over the forest as they all squinted up at them past the soot and ash the choppers kicked up. Bobby and Jess continued their progress towards John, both shielding their eyes from the whirling debris. 

“Who do you think that is?” Jess shouted over the noise. 

“I don’t know, looks like military issue, though.” Bobby yelled back, and raised his arms defensively when John and Jess gave him matching skeptical looks. “My dad is big into military stuff, okay? He told me all about it before I came to the mansion.” 

Jess just shrugged and turned her attention back to the copters as they landed at what couldn’t had Been a safe distance from the crowd of children huddling around Hank and Raven. Over the roar of the propellers, the steady drone of an electronic voice repeated the phrase “please remain calm, medical assistance is on the way.” 

“Somehow I doubt that’s medical assistance.” John mumbled to himself and pushed himself to his feet with a groan despite the protest of his ribs to join Bobby in Jess in squinting unhelpfully down at what was happening. 

Hank and Raven pushed gently away from the kids and approached the men piling out of the helicopters, all dressed in full military garb. They ignored Hank and Raven, even when the latter tried to get information out of one them in her demanding Raven-y sort of way. instead, they filled out into a defensive sort of arrangement, like they were awaiting orders. 

“What the heck is going on.” Jess mumbled from beside John. “Those guys definitely aren’t medical personnel.” He shot her a glance, and almost slid in a comment about stating the obvious when the last man stepped confidently out of the lead helicopter. 

“Oh-oh god.” Bobby stuttered and stumbled backwards until he hit a fallen piece of wall and slid down it and hit the ground hard enough to make anyone wince. John froze (not literally, that goodness), blood turning to ice in his veins. That was a man he’d be happy never seeing again. 

“Stryker.” John said, but it was barely a whisper over the way his breath hitched. Down by the choppers, Peter froze equally as stiff until Stryker pulled off his sunglasses with a sick smirk and yelled “FIRE!” 

Then Peter was gone, and for a moment, John’s heart skipped a beat with hope until he saw the shock wave pulse out of the soldiers’ guns and knock out Hank, Raven, Storm, all the kids, and Peter, who had made it within a foot of the line of soldiers when the shock wave hit him. They all went down like a bag of rocks as Kurt appeared a few feet away from John and the rest with Jean and Scott clinging to him for dear life. 

John locked eyes with Jean and all of the sudden, dread of what just happened hit him like a ton of bricks. He stumbled backwards, more gracefully than Bobby had done, and collapsed next to his teammate who was nearly hyperventilating. 

“it’s-it’s-it’s him.” Bobby gasped between too-short breaths. “I don’t-It-it can’t” 

“It is.” John whispered. Of all the garbage day type of things to add to the mix, this took the cake. John sighed and let his head fall back to rest against the rubble he leaned against. Once again staring up at the pale grey sky, John forced himself to take a breath past the aching in his ribs. First there was the argument with the maximoffs, then the thing with the ice, then the blue guy, explosion, and Stryker all within 36 hours. He shuddered and curled in on himself a little, only now realizing how cold it was with his adrenaline wearing off with nothing left to replenish it when he needed it most. He still felt...empty, like a used up battery, beyond a crushing sense of horror and guilt. John sighed again, forcing himself to keep a lid on his panic. What kind of Christmas was this supposed to be? 

It didn’t take long for the helicopters to start roaring again as Stryker marched around giving out orders. 

“I want him...him...her...and-“ he shouted and stopped above Raven as he waved around at hank, Peter, and storm, and Finally pointed down to Raven at his feet. “Her. Leave the kids, for now. We don’t have room in the choppers.” 

Unlike John and Bobby, Jess kept her eyes locked on Stryker as his men rushed around with stretchers, getting their teammates strapped down and loaded into then copters. 

“peter, no, not again.” Jess whispered and bit her lip as Peter disappeared, still unconscious, into the metal beast roaring loud enough everyone had to yell to be heard. John sat up a little straighter and opened his mouth to say something comforting, but hesitated. It was only for a moment, fear of her still being angry at him grabbed him and held just long enough for Scott to shake himself out of his daze and only a moment later, John lost his chance. 

Scott stared off at the helicopters and their friends getting taken away for a moment before turning to his team.

“okay...” he said, brows furrowed in concentration as he licked his lips. “okay, I’m supposed to take charge. Kurt, can you get us in there.” He waved at the helicopters expectantly as the teleporter shifted from foot to foot, eying the copters with weary interest. 

“I...I think so.” 

“great.” Scott pivoted to face John, Bobby, and Jess. “you guys stay here with the younger kids.” 

“what!! Why?!” Jess shouted. John mirrored he thoughts, but didn’t have the energy to do more than nod. 

“shhh!” Scott snapped back. “Because you couldn’t control your powers this morning, John is wheezing, and bobby might have a panic attack any second. We can’t leave the younger kids out in the cold, stay with them, we’ll be okay.” 

Jess stared at him, almost a glare, wired to run at any second then she relaxed, defeated, and nodded. She wiped her eyes and cleared her throat, nodding again before she looked up at Scott. 

“bring peter back safe, okay? Just like last time.” 

Jean put her hand on Jess’ shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze and said “we will, I promise.” 

With that, Jean and Scott grabbed onto Kurt and teleported into the helicopter in a poof of blue smoke, leaving John, Bobby, and Jess alone on the mansion grounds with the professor’s students with nothing but a smoking crater and two jackets between them.   
...........................................................  
The trio watched the helicopters disappear into the sky, carrying their friends and teachers with them. The boys still sat slumped against the half a wall which was blackened by fire, but was beginning to collect a thin layer of snow. 

John shivered and dropped his head onto his knees. “This....this really shouldn’t have happened.” He muttered. Jess scoffed as she started pacing at just above normal human speed. 

“Pfft, yeah, seems like the understatement of the century, doesn’t it.” 

John sighed into his knees, loud enough that Jess shot him a glance, but just kept pacing. Beside him, Bobby shook his head and sank further into the snow as he ran a hand through his hair and glanced around. All this snow, something he was so at home in, just felt...wrong. 

Usually, Bobby would enjoy a day out in the winter; but with the obvious tension between Jess and John and the kids laying unconscious in the grass, he couldn’t bring himself to enjoy it. It was healthy, he guessed, but having the joy sucked out of a part of himself, well, it sucked. 

Jess looked out over the kids and ran over to them all to make sure they were okay before zipping back over to John and Bobby. She crossed her arms, looking them both over as she puffed out a cloudly breath in the cold. 

“okay, look...we’re all pretty tense,” she said with a strained kind of squeak to her voice. “but pretty soon these kids are going to wake up and we’re going to have to take care of them without our own issues getting in the way, so if you have anything to say,” she let her hands flop to her sides. “say it now...” 

A silence fell over the group as Jess tapped her foot as if waiting for one of the boys to spill his guts. John glanced away from her and shrugged. “If you want issues out of the way, I can tell you where I was when you asked. Kind of random I know, but....” he glanced up at her expectantly. Jess raised an eyebrow and clicked her tongue. 

“yeah, that may have been the specific thing I was talking about” she said with a little sideways nod. John took a deep breath and uncrossed his arms from around his knees to gesture vaguely at nothing. 

“Okay, look, it’s kind of silly, really, I-“

“Just stop dodging the question and tell me, John.” Jess snapped. “With everything that happened, I don’t think it’s a big deal.” 

“Yeah, I realize now it’s not...that’s why I said it was silly.” 

“Mmm.” Jess hummed, still unimpressed. John sighed again and pushed himself up from beside Bobby with a wince, carefully avoiding the snow. He walked passed Jess, hands deep in his pockets as he nodded away from Bobby. Jess got the hint and fell in line with him, though stayed at least three feet away from him and refused to look up at him, even when he shot her a tentative glance. 

John looked over his shoulder at Bobby, who was still curled up in the snow, and took a deep breath to prepare himself. 

“Okay, so...” John started, hesitated, and launched back in before he could back down. “Alright, I’m just gonna...yeah, okay. I was at a studio and I was....filming a thing......that thing was a music video.....I sing, I’m on the dance team-Look I-I know it’s dumb and weird, but-“ 

Jess froze, arms still crossed across her chest for a second before she burst out laughing. John couldn’t quite bring himself to roll his eyes. 

“You think it’s dumb, I said it was silly-I” He froze when he saw the crap-eating grin Jess was giving him. “Oh-oh don’t you dare say I’m gay because I dance, because I’m really no-“

“Oh my gosh, John!” Jess interrupted with another fit of laughter. “I wasn’t going to call you gay, I know you’re not, that-that’s so stupid. Wow. Not you dancing, that’s cool, but you thinking that we’d hate you or something because of that.” 

“I know-wait, you think it’s cool?” John said and felt himself flush for some inexplicable reason. It must have been the cold. Jess stared at him for a moment before she shook her head with a dry chuckle. 

“Okay, I admit, I wasnt expecting that, the dance thing, but for real...why did you think you couldn’t tell us that?!” She asked in a not-secret-at-all kind of whisper. John shrugged. 

“You go through middle school with being called every disney princess name and you start wanting it to be a secret...”

Jess looked like she was about to keep ranting, but stopped short with a sigh. “Okay, yeah...you’re right.” 

“I am?”

Jess laughed yet again and shook her head before she took a breath, trying to figure out a way for John to really understand she was serious. 

“yeah...I-“ she paused to take a breath. “Um, out of us all, I’m the one who hasn’t had to deal with name calling. I got my powers right before we came to the mansion, I haven’t dealt with what peter had to put up with, or Kurt, or storm, you, Bobby, or anyone...” she shot him a glance and started fiddling with her jacket zipper before she went on. “...and I realize that you don’t want to go through that. Peter told me about his closest friends turning around and calling him a freak the day he showed up with silver hair. It’s a habit that has formed for him, keeping secrets like that, and...and I should have realized that you didn’t want to tell me and I should have respected it........I’m sorry.” 

John’s eyed widened in surprise, but he couldn’t hide his growing smile. “Its okay. I shouldn't have been such a jerkface.” 

“...yeah, you were kind of a jerk face, but so was I.” 

John chuckled and nodded. For the first time in 24 hours, a *comfortable* silence settled between the two as they turned around and headed back towards Bobby. They were about half way there when John spoke up again. “Don't tell the rest of the team yet, if you don't mind...please.” 

Jess hesitated, but nodded slowly. “I won’t.” She gave him a smile. “I promise.” 

“Thanks.” No silence returned this time, a hiccuping cry came from the clearing and drew the trio’s attention right as John and Jess reached Bobby. On the edge of the unconscious group of kids, Kitty sat up and started crying. 

John changed course immediately and ran over to her, sliding in beside her as she curled up in a little ball. 

“Hey, hey Kitty it’s alright.” He comforted as he wiped a tear off her chubby cheeks. “Everyone is okay.” 

“what-what’s goin’ on??” Kitty sobbed as she collapsed into his shoulder, bunching up his jacket in her little hands. John froze at the contact, arms hovering over her back as she continued crying until he lowered them into a gentle hug. 

“Don't worry Kitty. Everything is gonna be okay. I promise.” 

Kitty sniffed and wiped her nose, only succeeding in smearing ash and dirt across her face as she looked up at him. “you promise?” 

Guilt hit John again when he remembered he caused a good bit of this whole mess, but he managed a smile. “Yeah. I promise. Everything is gonna be okay.” With that, John picked kitty up and brought her over away from the wreckage of the mansion and sat her down on an old stump. 

“sit here, alright? I need to talk to Jess and Bobby, can you sit here and be a brave girl for me?” He asked with a reassuring grin. 

Kitty nodded and smiled at John a little bit. “Don’t take too long.” 

“I won’t, I'll be back in a little bit alright?” 

Kitty nodded again and finally let go of John’s jacket, allowing him to pick his was back over to Bobby and Jess. 

Jess ran a hand through her hair as she looked around at what used to be the mansion as he approached. 

“alright, top priorities: keep the kids warm and away from this mess.” She said as she waved at the wreckage pile. “we don’t know hen everyone will be back, so...it’s just us for a while.”

“I think we can handle this, I promised kitty we would.” John said as he came up beside them. Jess glanced over her shoulder at him and nodded. 

“Yeah, we have to.” She sighed. “Okay, I’m going to run through the mansion and get some wood to fuel a fire, after that, John, you start one, Bobby, help the kids as they wake up over to the tree where kitty is...well, here goes nothing.”


	10. Parental identity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! The Father is-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome, welcome. I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter and we finally found out where John was! More stuff is uncovered in this chapter, yay!   
> Any comments or kudos are greatly appreciated. Stay safe out there guys!

Peter groaned and opened his eyes to stare at a grated floor reflecting some kind of green light. Confused more than anything, he glanced around. hank, storm, and raven were still out cold, all with shock collars just like before. Memories of the explosion, the helicopters, Stryker, and the shock gun that had wiped them all out Rushed back in an instant. Wait, not all, they only had Raven, Storm, Hank and himself, maybe the rest got out. Peter swallowed and pushed himself to a sitting position as an intercom crackled to life above him. 

“maximoff.” Stryker smirked down at him from behind a glass viewing panel at the top of the cell. “Welcome back.” 

Peter’s heart skipped a beat as he looked around, ignoring the jerk above him for a moment to get his bearings. This cell was very different than the ones he had found himself in before. The walls glowed with green horizontal bars lining the steel wall opposed to the small individual cell he was in before. He wasn’t chained to the floor, but one fact remained: the thick shock collar. Peter’s hand went instinctively to the collar and he gave it a tug, knowing very well that it wouldn’t budge. He looked up at Stryker and scowled. 

“I would ask what you want, but I think I already know.” The speedster said. “How come I’m the only one awake?” 

Stryker shrugged, still smirking like a kid on Christmas Day. “Same reason you do everything. You’re fast. But it’s alright, I wanted to talk to you privately anyway.” 

Peter swallowed again, staring up at Stryker with what he hoped wasn’t a face full of blindsided panic. Peter started pacing, glaring at the floor now. 

“no chains this time?” He asked

Stryker laughed, though the sound cracked and warped over the intercom. “I don’t think its necessary,” he chuckled. “Though, I wouldn’t get too close to the walls if I were you. They might trigger something.” 

Peter laughed dryly, now even more aware of the collar around his throat and plopped down on the ground with his back turned to the viewing area after a few more laps around the cell. “great, just great.” He muttered to himself. Behind him, Stryker tutted and Peter could picture the stupid grin on his face even with his back turned. 

“So, like, I said, I have something to discuss with you.” 

“What the heck are you talking about?” 

“Well, it seemed like a private matter, so I thought I’d talk with you about it alone.” When Peter still didn’t turn around, Stryker just laughed and pushed on. “It’s more for your sake, then mine, really. After all, if I found this out about myself, I’d shove it down so deep no one would ever find it.” He said with an understanding tone that was painfully fake. It made Peter’s blood boil, but he still didn’t turn. It was all a hoax, he was sure, to get him to do what they wanted, but he wasn’t buying it. 

“Alright fine.” Stryker said nonchalantly. “ so much for shock value, but I was just being nice. Think of it as a peace offering.” 

Peter whipped around, fury written on his face as he flushed from anger. “I’m not taking a stupid peace offering, douche bag.” He growled. “Piss off before I get really mad.” 

“You’ve still got your spirit, kid, I have to hand it to you.” Stryker laughed. “I know now that you get it from your father.” 

Peter froze, more still than he had even been in his life. He’d always wanted to know his dad’s identity. Even after hours of begging Magda, she refused on the grounds of “It’s better for everyone if you don’t know.” And here he was, getting the offer of a life time and it was coming from his least favorite person on the planet. 

“My dad?” He asked in barely a whisper, but somehow still managed to infuse rage into it. 

“Yeah, your father, I was everything right here.” He said as he flipped through a file he held. “The DNA results came back after you and your friends blew my old lab to bits, but, uh-“ he paused to glance up and relish the look on Peter’s face. “I wasn’t expecting your genetic markers to come back the same as Magneto.” 

“What?” Peter mouthed, like he was gasping for air as if Stryker had punched him in the gut. 

“yeah, yeah, all the tests confirm it.” The general sighed contentedly and threw down the file he held onto the console in front of him. “You’re his son”

In that moment, everything Peter thought he wanted back shattered into a million pieces. His mind went back to all the things he missed about his dad, the way he’d ruffle his hair when he came home from work, his laugh, and shark-like grin he and Jess had inherited. In that moment, Peter’s desire for his dad frizzed our like a match. In that moment, for once in his life, he was glad his dad left. 

He didn’t know much about his father, he knew *enough* about magneto, though, that the whole idea of them being the same person seemed disconnected. Peter stared up blankly at Stryker for a moment like he had short circuited before he shook his head. 

“No.” He hissed. “I don’t believe you.” 

Stryker raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Alright, but I don’t know why, here-“ he grabbed the folder and slammed it into the glass of the viewing chamber. “See for yourself. All the genetic markers match. You’re magento’s kid.” 

Peter didn’t take his eyes off the paper on the glass until Stryker pulled it away and slipped it back into a drawer in front of him. The speedster didn’t know much about what all the marks on the paper meant, but somehow he knew Stryker wasn’t lying. 

The reality of the whole thing made his head spin, like it was too much for his body to handle and he needed to throw up the extra information pouring in. Peter stumbled and sat down with a thump that echoed around the cell. Above him, the intercom crackled off with a final twisted laugh from Stryker, leaving the speedster to the depths of his own mind. 

Peter bit his lip and folded his legs to sit crisscrossed, his go to thinking position if he wasn’t pacing, and drummed his fingers on his knees. So magneto was his dad, and not just his either, Magda insisted Jess and he shared a father, but Peter wasn’t fully convinced until Jess’ powers showed up. 

With a sigh, Peter laid back and scowled up at the glowing-green ceiling. Maybe he would develop laser eyes like Scott from emotional stress and blow a hole in this place. It might kill him too, but at least it was a little pay back. His mind drifted back to his favorite memory with his dad, so old it might not even be real, but Peter held onto it closer than almost anything else. 

He remembered one thing, vaguely, and one thing much more clearly than he ever would have liked. The first was when Jess was born, Peter was only two at the time. His mum got home from the hospital and his dad lifted him up to see his new sister. Peter idealized that moment, all of them together, but the memory was disjointed, almost like it was all happening underwater, but Peter replayed it over and over again in his head, trying to force it back to the surface. It never worked very well. 

The second memory was strangely clear, though not nearly as pleasant. Peter had come down the hallway at 3 years old, (at the time his mother wouldn’t let him have a room in the basement by himself) to his mum at the kitchen table, head in her hands with a note crumbled in front of her as the TV droned on in the kitchen about something Peter didn’t understand. Magda called him over and the first thing he asked was “where’s papa?” To which she burst into tears and scooped him up into a hug that lasted for ages. 

Peter sighed again and ran a hand through his hair as he glanced around at his still unconscious teammates, probably having magical dreams about mutant peace. Except Hank. He was probably dreaming about kissing Raven. 

Peter scoffed at the idea and shook his head. At least his humor didn’t leave him under stress, unlike Magneto. 

All of a sudden, Peter sat straight up and literally facepalmed. This must have been what the professor had wanted to talk to him about. He knew Magneto was his dad, or dadneto, maybe. Peter laughed at him own bad pun, just laughed to himself like an idiot as his friend lay around him. 

What a loser, Peter was, he guess he inherited that from his father too, but at least he was a happy loser, well, he was happy beyond being kidnapped and having a collar put on him. Magneto, though, was constantly on the run. Okay, maybe not the best choice of words because it lumped Peter into the same category, but...oh whatever. 

Peter mopped a hand across his face and flopped back onto the floor. Man, was this the way to spend Christmas vacation. At least he finally got what he’d been asking for for years: the identity of his father.


	11. Cairo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of the frying pan and into the fire, really. Apocalypse is waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sooooo sorry guys, not only did I miss Friday, but this is a short and kind of strange chapter. It just really wasn’t working for me and I’m about ready to be done with it. So, yeah, sorry it’s strange, but I was almost pulling my hair out over it.  
> I hope you enjoy regardless, send any comments my way, I’d love anything. Special thanks to HawkeyeRules because they left an amazing amount of comments on my first story and I’m beyond grateful. Phoenix does the same thing with wonderfully long comments and I love them both so much for it, thank you guys! I’m glad you enjoy my stories!

It wasn’t much longer until Everyone else woke around Peter. He greeted them all, made sure they were okay, but other than that he kind of retreated back into his own head in an attempt to come to grips with what he just learned. 

Raven and Hank fell back into a hushed conversation, storm sat by Peter, just enjoying the silence together, until Stryker reappeared at the glass viewing area. 

“Where’s the professor charles Xavier?” He asked in a no-nonsense type of way. 

“Why would we help *you*” Raven asked as she stood to her feet.

“Because then this who experience for you might be a bit more pleasant.” 

“Well too bad, we aren’t helping you, you can go shove your questions up you-“

BING

Everyone froze as an excessive amount of alarms started going off, blaring something about an escaped weapon X. Stryker stiffened, all the color draining from his face as he shouted orders to his men without bothering to switch on the intercom. 

The technicians hurried out of the viewing room, leaving Peter and the rest alone in their cell. However, it wasn’t long until a familiar blue face appeared in the viewing area. 

“Kurt!” They all shouted, both in confusion and joy, but it didn’t seem like he could hear them. He looked desperately for the intercom, but gave up and resorted to a series of vague waving motions. 

“The door.” Hank said, waving them all towards the opposite wall. “He says get away from the door!” 

they didn’t figure it out a moment too soon. As soon as they got out of range, the door blew off it’s hinges and Scott stood in the doorway coughing as the dust settled around him. 

“Ah, I wondered how long it would be until you all showed up.” Hank said and gave Scott a pat on the shoulder. “Well done.” 

“Where’s Jess?” Peter asked once the dust cleared and only Jean and Kurt were waiting behind Scott.

“She’s at the mansion.” Jean answered as they started down the hallway to the hanger. “She, John, and Bobby stayed with the kids, wait-“ she brought her hand up to her temple as a group of soldiers ran past them. Peter nodded at the information, very much relieved that he didn’t have to deal with breaking the news to Jess as the literal apocalypse was going on. 

The team hurried down the hallway, dodging around dead soldiers as the alarms screamed on in the background. The concrete hall opened up into a hanger with a few fighter jets here and there. A smile spread across Hank’s face as he made his way over to the biggest one. 

“Buckle up, guys.” He said as he turned back to the X-men. “We’re going to face the apocalypse.”   
————————————————  
“seventh wonder, twelve-o-clock.” Hank said from the front of the plane as he flipped a few switches on the dashboard.

For the past two hours, they’d been on the plane. It was long enough that Peter was almost vibrating in his seat, not only from staying still, but the added stress of facing his father was eating at him, especially because everyone around him had no idea what was going on. 

As Hank spoke, The jet flew over the giant pyramid erected in the giant pile of rubble and landed a little bit away, out of view. Above the pyramid was Erik, protected in his magnetic bubble. 

“Hey Jean.” Peter said after a moment, breaking the silence for the first time in half an hour besides Hank’s update. “Can you read my mind?”

“What?”

“Like, right now, can you see what I’m thinking?” He asked again after he realized that his secret wouldn’t be too secret with a telepath on board, but Jean just shook her head. 

“Peter, I can never hear what you’re thinking.” She said. “You think way too fast.” 

“Okay, good.” 

“Why? Do you have something to hide?” Scott joked and elbowed the speedster. Peter shot him a grin. 

“Neh, I’m just thinking.”

“Yeah, of something you don’t want Jean to hear, you better not be crushing on my girl.” 

“Scott, dude, what the heck!” Peter laughed. “Jean is all yours, chill.” 

“Okay, just making sure.” Scott shrugged and winked at Jean who just rolled her eyes. 

“You are both idiots.” She muttered, and then broke off, looking up like she had gotten punched. “the professor, he’s inside the pyramid.” 

Raven looked over her shoulder in the co-pilot seat to face the team. “Alright, he’s our first priority. If apocalypse gets him then we’re all done for.” She said with a nod. “we’re short of members, seeing as you guys left John, jess, and Bobby at the mansion. Kurt, you’ll get the professor, Jean will cover you. Scott, storm, and hank, lay down general cover. Peter, do you think you can get me up to Erik?” 

“what? Oh? Erik, uh, I-I think so.” He said, still not stopping his constant fidgeting. Raven Gave him a look, 

“are you alright? You seem unnaturally jittery.” 

Peter shrugged. “pent up energy, that’s all.” In the next second, Peter had unbuckled and was leaning over Hank’s shoulder to see out the windshield. 

“What are you doing?” The Doctor asked.

“I’m just looking.” He said absentmindedly, not taking his eyes of magneto as the plane shifted and jolted. 

“What was that??” Hank asked. “Peter, what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“You didn’t?” 

“Yeah, no I didn’t, trust me, I’m just as confused as you are.” Peter said and zipped back to his seat to buckle himself in as the jet lurched to the side, prompting a curse out of Hank. 

“Erik is doing this.” Raven hissed, grabbing onto the seat arm rests as the shaking got worse. 

‘Really dad, this is such a great first impression.’ Peter thought to himself, once again glad that Jean couldn’t get in his head. 

Hank managed to land the plane without too much damage and the team disembarked. It was time to face apocalypse.


	12. Landing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the end (to the beginning) ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter skips around a lot, but I think it makes sense, if it doesn’t let me know. Thanks for reading/commenting! I love all you guys, enjoy.

As the team stepped out of the jet, they all squinted as the sun hit their eyes as they looked around at the wreckage strewn about. Cairo was a mess of buildings crumpled up like they were Tin cans. Metal wizzed about in the air, crashing through what walls were still standing with reckless abandon. 

“Holy crap.” Scott muttered. “This place has really gone to pot.” 

“Yeah, that’s why we’re here, Scotty.” Peter said as he shot him a grin and waved vaguely in the air. “You know, kick butt, save the world, that kind of thing.” He winked at Scott, joking around out of habit but the thought of his dad still would’ve leave him alone. It was just hovering in the back of his mind, constantly poking at him. 

“Oh both of you shut up.” Storm said and rolled her eyes as the boys looked at her with mock offense. 

“Only Jean gets to tell us to shut up.” Peter pointed out, snapping right back into jokester mode, to which Storm turned with her hands on her hips to face the telepath tilted her head to the side. 

“Peter.” Jean said with a forced smile. “Shut up.” 

“Whatever you say, ma lady.” The speedster said and gave Jean and over dramatic bow with a wave of his hand. 

“Guys, focus.” raven called from where she stood a bit in front of the group. As the team looked up towards her; their jokes left them. A green haired woman and a younger man with metal wings were heading straight towards them. Peter took a second to note how easy it would have been to deal with the bird guy if magneto was on their side, if he had stayed to be his dad, but he shook the thoughts off as he zipped up beside Raven. After all, this really wasn’t the time to get distracted by his absentee father, even if he was one of the most powerful mutants on the planet, and would be particularly useful right about now. 

“alright team, be careful, stay safe, don’t do anything dumb, and most importantly, and don’t die. Here we go.” Raven said hurriedly with a glance over her shoulder at the approaching enemy before she nodded over to Peter. 

Without bothering to nod back, Peter pulled on his goggles, placed his hand on the back of her neck and took the first step to run as the world slowed down around him and the chaos stilled into a scene that could have been out of a Syfy movie where there was no gravity. Chunks of earth floated around the whole city from the combined powers of quake and magneto, moving so quickly they shifted slightly even in Peter’s point of view. 

Peter skipped across the floating debris which froze in the middle of the air, careful to not let Raven accidentally get impaled by something he didn’t see, which nearly happened and he had to yank her out of the way. He cringed, hoping that he didn’t accidentally hurt her. 

It took him a while, by his standards at least, but he managed to pick his way up the spiral of metal rushing towards Erik and skid to a stop outside the magnetic field that hung in mid air.   
............................................................  
Down on the ground, almost as soon as Peter had zipped away, the green haired women kelt down and stretched her hands out on the ground, though she didn’t take her eyes off the x men in front of her. 

“you’ll bow before apocalypse, scum.” She hissed as the ground started to shake. The winged man landed beside her and gave her a strange look. 

“Quake, calm down, just kill them and be done with it, don’t get stuck on monologues.” He said with a wink and a smirk in the x men’s direction and extended his wings towards them. A pair of razor sharp feathers shot at the three of them at an alarming speed, prompting them all to duck. 

The feathers sunk deep into the building behind them with a dull thud. Storm glanced over at Hank and Scott, concerned, but determined. 

“I’ll cover you,” she said with a glance towards apocalypse’s horsemen. “Take out the green haired chick.” With that, she stood up just as angel launched another group of feathers at them and threw the spikes to the side with her wind powers just before they stabbed Scott who flinched back at almost being impaled. 

Angel smirked at her again, almost flirtatiously, and pushed off the ground as storm began to rise and the wind kicked up around her. Both of them took off into the air, leading them into a duel. 

The green haired woman didnt even spare them a glance, but just closed her eyes as the ground started to rumble once more. 

“you’re the one who caused the earthquakes.” Hank yelled over the noise as he tried to find his footing on the cracking ground. 

“you’ll all die before us and our father.” Quake responded and doubled her efforts as Hank began to gain ground towards her. She made the ground shake so much Scott couldn’t aim his blasts well and he tripped and fell with a grunt, Having to roll out of the way to not get crushed by flying rock. 

Hank jumped over the rocks hurling at him and landed gracefully just in time to catch another flying chunk of earth, though the impact pushed him back a few feet. 

“if you resist, the worse your fate will be.” She taunted as more rocks hurdled past Hank’s face. He just growled and threw the earth he held back at her.   
...........................................................  
Meanwhile, Kurt teleported himself and Jean into the pyramid as soon as raven gave orders. 

“this is a maze...” Kurt said and his voice echoed about the anti chamber. The whole place was a series of corridors with no light outside a few panels opening up to the outside. Kurt glanced around, trying to figure out the best course of action when Jean grabbed his arm and pulled him down one of the dark hallways. 

“I found the professor, come on!” She said, relying on her telepathy to guide them to Charles. 

“Are we sure we’re going the right way?” Kurt asked just as the hall opened up into the largest room he had ever seen. Statues lined the wall, all showing what who could only be one person: Apocalypse. 

In the middle of the room, two slabs sat parallel to each other. charles was laying on a table, almost lifeless and apocalypse laid beside him. Jean and Kurt started towards them both when A woman with black hair came out from behind a pillar, brandishing a lightsaber like blade. 

“leave, now, and I won’t have to kill you. Maybe you can even join his empire.” She said with a nod towards apocalypse but never stopped her steady progress towards them. 

“Kurt,” Jean whispered as she took a step back. “get the professor and go, I’ve got this.”

Kurt nodded and teleported up to Charles, even as the dark haired woman swung her sword towards him. Kurt flinched back, but jean caught the woman’s hand with her powers and yanked her away from the teleporter. 

Kurt didn’t get to see the rest of the fight, he grabbed the professor and poofed out of the room before the woman could get in another strike. 

.....  
When Raven materialized in front of Him with a silver headed kid, Erik had to admit he was surprised. He looked them both over, not caring much about what they had to say. Raven had come to convince him to stand down, no doubt, but it was futile. 

Charles had already tried, desperately, to get Erik to abandon apocalypse, he even told him about peter, but Erik was sure in his decision. He had left Magda and their children to try and find a way to bring peace for them, he finally found a way to bring that peace and it was through apocalypse. 

Raven started laying out reasons as to why he should abandon his leader, but Erik pointedly ignored her. for some reason, Erik’s eyes kept drifting back to the kid with her, he looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place where he knew him from...he couldn’t be Peter, could he? No, Erik refused to believe that. Charles would’nt do something so stupid as to bring his child to war, but it also seemed just crazy enough to be something Charles would do...

“Erik, Erik listen to me, you don’t have to do this.” Raven pleaded with him, but Erik didn’t shift, he didn’t even look away from the boy. He had Magda’s eyes...but then again lots of people had brown eyes. He shook his head, both to chase away his doubts and to turn down Raven’s offer. 

“the humans took everything I have. My family, my child, all I have left is this. Maybe I can make something better....make something for those I have left.”

“you can’t make anything better if everyone in dead.” Raven said as she crossed her arms. “You’re making a mistake, Erik.” 

Erik shook his head. She had no idea what was truly going gone, Charles had already gotten to her. It was a shame, he always liked Raven. Though, maybe the boy (his son???) could be persuaded. 

“please, Erik, come back to us.” Raven said again, but Erik held a hand up to shh her and inclined his head towards the boy. 

“I see charles is recruiting kids to do his dirty work.” He said bluntly, to which the kid straightened a little and shifted from foot to foot like he was nervous. 

“I’m-im not a kid. I’m 16. And Charles didn’t force me here.” The boy said, trying to look as intimidating as possible. Erik considered him, silently running the math in his head. The age was right, Peter would be 16, but he was yet to be convinced. He couldn’t afford to jump to conclusions. After all, this boy didn’t look much like the little boy he remembered, but that could be attributed to the fact the he hadn’t seen Peter in 13 years. 

Erik sighed and shook his head. “Still just a child. But if you aren’t here for Charles, then why are you here, a mother to fight for?” 

“Yeah, and a sister, but-but that’s-“ Peter was cut off when a shout came across their com link. 

“I got the professor!” Kurt said, sounding very out of breath. “I’m heading to the jet. He needs medical attention!”

As soon as the link shut off, From inside the pyramid came a beastly roar that made everyone turn. 

Apocalypse was awake.


	13. Broken (in so many ways)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle against apocalypse continues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to the Wednesday update! I hope you all enjoy and stay safe out there!

Vivian smirked at Hank and Scott as the roar came, eyes alight with a elation. “our father is awake,” she said with a wide smile as she stood up. “your death is near.” 

“Oh shut up, you ass hole.” Scott growled. “You should take your friend’s advice: skip the monologues.” 

While she was distracted, mesmerized by the idea of apocalypse awakening, he managed to get a hit in that just barely grazed her, she fell to her knees for only a second, but it was enough for him and hank to sprint back to the jet where Kurt was with the professor, even as Vivian yelled with rage. 

The ground trembled slightly as Hank and Scott sprinted across it, but they ran just fast enough to beat her weakened powers as she staggered from the pain of the burn left by Scott’s blast.  
......  
Inside the pyramid, Jean managed to overpower the dark haired woman, but apocalypse awoke just as she readied to knock her out, something she was never fond of. 

Jean looked up just in time to see apocalypse raise his arms towards her before she flew into the back wall where she passed out On impact.

Apocalypse turned his gaze to Psylocke. 

“Join your brothers and bring me Charles Xavier.” He said as he pushed himself up from the slab. His follower didn’t even nod as she took off for the pyramid entrance.  
......  
From up above the chaos, Raven and peter watched as apocalypse materialized in the middle of the battlefield and roared for Charles. Raven glanced at the speedster beside her. 

“we have to distract them so they can get the jet in the air, they’ll never make it otherwise.” 

Peter grinned to himself and only gave Erik a glance before he nodded to Raven. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” With that, he placed his hand back on her next and ran down to apocalypse waiting below.  
...........................................................  
Hank scrambled through the jet entrance, nearly crashing into the wall in the process. He slid by Kurt and Charles, who looked almost catatonic and was mumbling something about getting out. Hank cursed to himself as he passed them by, but he didn’t have time to follow proper first aid protocol, even if the professor looked catatonic. If he didn’t get the plane in the air they would all be dead. 

Hack slipped into the pilot’s seat right as Scott fumbled his way into the hanger. Hank flipped several switches on the control panel and pulled back on the controls with a grunt. Erik still had a firm grip on the plane. the jet jolted into the air, heavy in turbulence, but steady even with the whacked out magnetic fields. In the rear view mirror, Hank saw when apocalypse stormed at them and he couldn’t help but realize that the blue mutant was closer than he appeared. 

Right as he thought he could successfully get it in the air, the ground came up and swallowed the back end of it. The jet started going crazy, so many alarms went off it filled the plane with a constant screeching. 

“Kurt, you have to get us out of here!” Hank yelled as he abandoned the pilot’s chair to stumble his way back to the teleporter as the jet lurched and the nose of the plane crumpled like an old tin can just as Hank got out of the way. 

Kurt nodded, eyes wide with fear, and extended a shaky hand to the doctor. Scott took initiative and grabbed Kurt’s and the professor’s arms, but as Hank reached out, the jet tipped, sending him crashing into the seats beside him. 

Hank growled, both from pain and frustration, but pushed off the seats to touch the tip of Kurt’s finger just in time to be enveloped in the blue cloud of smoke as the younger mutant teleported them all to safety. 

........  
Peter deposited Raven behind one of the only one small building left around that was still standing.

As he slowed to a stop, they were just in time to see the stolen jet from Stryker’s crumble up and crash into the ground in a fantastic explosion. Raven cursed and shielded her eyes to look at the wreckage. 

“Do you think they were in there?” She asked Peter, who glanced over the twisted remains of the plane for a moment before shaking his head. 

“Kurt was there.” He said tentatively. “He can get people out just as easily as I can.” 

Raven frowned at him, but gave him a nod as they both turned their attention to Apocalypse shouting for Charles in the middle of the only one spot on the battle field. 

“Even if they got out we don’t know where they are.” Raven glanced over at the speedster. “It’s just us for now.” Peter nodded and took a breath, knowing what he had to do. 

before Raven could protest, he took off for apocalypse. He approached him cautiously at first, seeing what he did to the jet shook his confidence slightly, but only slightly. once he saw that the blue mutant was just as frozen as everyone else, he couldn’t help but grin to himself. 

He still smirked to himself as he ran up to him, the blue guy was sitting there frozen like everyone else, with a stupid self righteous look on his face like he knew the answers to the universe. This guy really was a jerk, and a know-it-all. That would help Peter get over beating his ass, that and the whole take over the world thing made it easier to not leave a mark on his Conscience. Plus, This would teach his dad not to be a terrorist and leave him and his younger sister when they were two and three months old. 

Peter took a step back and planted his foot behind him just as Raven had taught him. He wound back his arm and threw a punch towards apocalypse. It landed with a satisfying crunch, though it hurt Peter’s hand a decent but, well that didn’t really matter. Beating this douche bag to a pulp was worth a few bruised knuckles. 

Peter punched him again. Then again. And again. And again. And a kick for good measure. Seeing the guy fly around like a sock puppet sure was satisfying. Peter was on top of the world. Stryker was behind him, he knew his dad was, even if that was a bit of a disappointment, they found the professor and now he was saving the day. He couldn’t wait until he could brag to Jess and rub it in everyone’s faces that he, once again, saved everyone’s butts. 

He ran around to build up speed, going back in for what could be the final punch when the ground came up and swallowed his foot. He grunted and gritted his teeth as he felt his ankle twist the wrong way. It wasn’t broken, but he probably shouldn’t run on it. Maybe he wasn’t on top of the world after all. More than the pain of the sprain, though, was the panic that set in at being trapped, chains were one thing, but he couldn’t even really move his leg from the knee down and the sand continued to snake further up, like it would swallow him whole. Peter twisted his ankle around desperately, trying to force it free, but the ground squeezed tighter and forced him to still. 

He looked up, wide eyed, just in time to lean back and dodge a punch from apocalypse, but it was close enough he could feel the wind of it go past. In return, Peter threw a punch but apocalypse caught it, even though he followed the fighting form Raven insisted on them learning. That shouldn’t have been able to happen. Peter was the fast one, not this guy, yet apocalypse just caught his punch like it was nothing. He tried to pull away, but the ancient mutant held firm without even trying. 

Peter grit his teeth to stifle a groan of pain as apocalypse squeezed his fist hard enough to make his knuckles crack. As the speedster looked up at the ancient mutant above him, dread hit him like a punch to the gut, leaving him completely breathless. He was completely, totally, unmistakably scewed. He was trapped, couldn’t run, which meant he was basically useless to himself and everyone else and very much at the mercy of the blue god in front of him, who didn’t seem to inclined to simply release Peter and tell him to run along. 

Peter yanked against the grip on his hand again, knowing on some level that it was futile. He definitely wasn’t the one saving the day now, heck, now he’d do anything to give up the credit and be saved, but that didn’t seem likely. His panicked trashing only ended in having his arm twisted behind him so hard it almost dislocated and he had to lean over so it didn’t snap out of place. He bit his lip to keep from screaming as he stared hopelessly at the sand wrapped around his leg. 

His heart hammered in his cheat with panicked anticipation at what was about to happen to him. He could feel apocalypse shift, looking him over as if trying to figure out what to do with him, death or life? Pain or mercy? It was all out of his hands at this point. Peter offered up a silent prayer that it wouldn’t be *that* bad, but was cut off by a crunching pop that sent him to the ground. 

In a blinding moment of agony, Peter’s kneecap shattered and he sank to the ground with a earsplitting scream accompanied by a series of wet crunches. Peter gasped in an empty breath, it was like his lungs wouldn’t work, nothing would work as he scrambled about in a desperate attempt to find anything to ground him, but The only thought that got past the pain was “I can’t run”

Everything was lost in a muted rush past the pain radiating from his right leg. Some part, if not all of it, was broken. Peter got a glance of it when his vision was still in focus, and it just made him want to puke. His knee looked like it had gotten run over by a steamroller. From somewhere he thought someone called his name, but it was probably some kind of pain induced hallucination. Peter squeezed his eyes shut and hoped he didn’t throw up, or that he’d just pass out or die and be done with it, but apocalypse didn’t seem to be satisfied...  
.......................  
Everyone looked towards the middle of the field when the scream shot through the air. Hank glanced up from where he was seeing to Charles. 

“Peter.” He whispered. It had to be, that scream didn’t sound like a female and all the other males were accounted for. The professor pushed himself up weakly, only for Hank to force him back down without having to try. 

“He wants me, I-I can-“ 

“No Charles, Peter knows what he was getting into, giving yourself up is suicide.”

“He’s just a child, Hank.” Charles said as he looked up at Hank with watery eyes. Hank’s heart twisted at the thought and the way Peter screamed, but shook his head. 

“You can’t charles.” The Doctor said sadly. “It would kill us all.” 

In the edge of the small room, Kurt stumbled to his feet and peaked out the window. 

“We’ve got to help him.” He said, turning back to the others. “Apocalypse will kill peter, he can’t move, we have to!” 

Scott grabbed Kurt’s shoulders and shook him until Kurt almost cried. 

“You can’t get yourself killed!”

“But-but Peter.” 

“I-...” Scott croaked. “We-we can’t lose both of you.” 

At that, Kurt burst into tears unexpectedly. The thought of Peter dying was so overwhelming to the young mutant, but Hank didn’t blame him one bit.


	14. Parental instinct

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erik watches crap hit the fan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, here we all are once again. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Work has started back for me, so unfortunately I have less time to write and I’m exhausted. I might have to update only twice a week to still give you guys quality chapters, but we’ll have to see. Comments and kudos are wildly appreciated. Thank you so much to everyone who has taken time to do such and just read this story! Enjoy!

From the air, Erik had a full view of what was going down on the ground, including when the ground came up and swallowed the young speedster’s leg. A pang of...fear?? No, it couldn’t be, the boy wasn’t his son...right? 

Erik watched, trying his best to be indifferent to the way the kid screamed when Apocalypse broke his leg, but he couldn’t help but wince at the sound of the bone snapping. He shouldn’t care. it was a necessary sacrifice to make a better world for his kind, but this wasn’t right, even if the boy wasn’t his son, he was still just a child. 

apocalypse tangled his hand in the boy’s hair and yanked upwards to get him to look up. He made a sound halfway between a sob and a scream as his leg moved again, forced to take some of his weight by Apocalypse. The rocky movement was accompanied by another loud pop and a scream from the kid as his leg bent further out of place at pressure from apocalypse. Erik winced back from the scene. He never found pleasure in the scream of a child, even if it wasn’t his own. 

“so fragile, the leg, just a little leverage and everything slides out of place.” The ancient one hissed in boy’s ear and pulled harder on his hair as he pressed his foot into the kid’s already pulverized knee. The boy basically sobbed as he flailed weakly at the grip on his hair with only one arm. the other hung limply at his side, no more use to him than his leg was. 

Erik hissed for the boy’s sake when apocalypse backhanded him and told him to stop crying. That was like telling someone who had been stabbed to stop bleeding. Even from the air, Erik could hear how the kid cried, not for mercy, not to be let go, he just kept repeating the same phrase in an increasingly quick, gasping voice: “my leg.” Over and over again. Erik couldn’t get it out of his head, even when the boy’s speech got so fast all the words ran together. 

Erik wasn’t sure what bones in the child’s leg weren’t broken yet; the whole thing was a mangled mass, even his hip looked out of place. 

Apocalypse looked at him again and how he was crying with a sigh. “useless.” He said and turned to his approaching horsemen as he pulled Peter’s head back to expose his neck. “end him.” 

Erik froze at the command, even though it wasn’t directed at him. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t the peace apocalypse preached. This was a slaughter of a child, and even if this boy wasn’t his own, he was someone’s son. Erik knew the heartache of a lost child all too well, and he couldn’t let it stand. 

As The dark haired woman approached, (psylock, was it?) trailing her katana in the sand, Erik raised several bands of metal and sent them hurling her way. Not to kill, she too had been deceived by apocalypse, but he wrapped them around her wrists and planted them firmly to the building behind the woman, effectively trapping her to the wall. 

Apocalypse turned to him and *snarled* of all things, like he was some kind of animal. He raised a hand toward Erik and the metal bender prepared to defend himself when the dark haired woman shifted, prompting them both to look. 

From where she was held against the wall, the woman’s skin changed form, turning back into Raven, who glared bloody murder up at Erik. Apocalypse turned back to the metal bender, this time with a welcoming expression that was probably what he thought of as a smile. 

“Ah.” He sighed and extended his hand to Erik, still gripping the boy’s hair with the other. “I misjudged you, War, you have my thanks, and you may have a reward.” As he spoke, he walked around the boy, forcing him to turn with the movement even though his broken leg was still firmly held by the now bloodstained sand. Apocalypse glanced from the boy crying on his knees to War who floated ever above him. “I give you the honor.” He said. “Of ending this weakling’s life.” 

No. No. No. Apocalypse had it very wrong. Even if he was glad to not be demolished by sand, Erik’s intentions were completely misread. It made his stomach twist to think of killing the boy. He was only a child. A mutant child. (His son??????) a world where children were slaughtered, beaten down to a pulp was something he would never be a part of. His family had seen and reaped the consequences of societies built on such principles and he never wanted to go back to a time where that was true. The metal bender watched his leader with a blank face as he slowly crafted a metal spear. He didn’t take his eyes off the boy the whole time. 

Apocalypse had wrenched the kid’s head up, once again prompting a cry from him, and directed his gaze up towards Erik. 

“You see.” Apocalypse whispered in the speedster’s ear. “Those who follow me prosper, and those who defy me will be snuffed out, as if they never existed. I have one goal in this world: to bring all peoples together as one, and you have gotten in the way like a fly throws itself in front of a windshield.” 

The boy’s eyes widened with what was obviously fear as he locked eyes with Erik. And for the first time since Apocalypse shattered his leg, he shifted from repeating the phrase “my leg” to mouthing one word, almost hopelessly: “help.”

Erik froze. Any confusion over the matter left his head and left him with a burning sense of hatred for Apocalypse. That boy was his son. He had no doubt of it. He might as well called him dad right then and there. Erik’s gaze shifted from the boy, (his son: Peter) to the brute standing over him. 

“Do it War.” Apocalypse called. “End this boy’s pathetic existence and claim you space before me.” 

Erik didn’t respond. He extended his hand, barely enough to be noticed, but the metal spear he crafted shot forward and sunk itself deep in apocalypse’s throat, through and through. 

Apocalypse choked and released his grip on Peter’s hair, stumbling back a few steps as his hand came up to the metal impaling him. A smile tugged at the edge of Erik’s lips at the look on apocalypse’s face. The ancient one gasped in a breath, and just when Erik thought he was going to collapse, he pulled the spear out of his own neck, eyes still locked the Erik, and threw it into the sand. 

“You betrayed me.” Apocalypse growled, his throat healing over even as he spoke. 

Erik tilted his head to the side as he summoned more metal to him, preparing to send it towards apocalypse. “No.” He said with a nod towards raven and Peter. “I betrayed them. And I betrayed Charles.” 

With that, Erik sent his store of scrap metal raining down on apocalypse.  
...........................................................  
“Oh, oh god.” Scott muttered from where he and Kurt were peaking through the narrow window of the shack they had teleported into. Outside, they could just make out where Raven had been thrown against the wall, still trapped by the cuffs Erik planted around her wrists and now the metal bender had raised a spear, aiming to end their teammate’s life. 

But then the shaft sank into Apocalypse instead, going far enough through that Scott and Kurt could see the point come crashing out the other side of his neck. 

“What the-what the hell.” Scott barely breathed at the sight in front of him. The flutter of hope shriveled out when apocalypse ripped the spear from his own throat like it was a splitter and healed from the inside out in front of their every eyes. 

From over in the corner with the professor, Hank craned his neck in a feeble attempt to see what was happening. 

“What’s going on?” He asked, though Scott was already running for the door. “Scott-Scott No!” The doctor called after him, only then pushing up from where he kelt next to Charles, but the professor caught his hand. 

“Let him go, Hank, it will be alright.” Charles whispered up at him. “Erik is with us. Go with them.” 

“What? Charles, you’re talking non-sense. You need medical attention and-“

“Take care of me once apocalypse is dead. Save Peter. Save Raven. Save...Erik.” Even as Charles spoke, he was fading back into unconsciousness, leaving Hank with the burden of the decision. He glanced around the shack, only Kurt was left with him. Jean was no where to be seen, hopefully she was at least safe. Storm had disappeared, but distant thunder spoke to her safety. But What made Hank truly nervous was the fact that he lost sight of quake.   
...........................................................  
Scott left the shack faster than he’d done anything in his life, revved on by a new, though slight, sense of hope at having Magneto on their side. After all, he was legendary. Scott had never even heard of apocalypse before today, so-

Scott froze when Angel landed in front of him hard enough to shake the ground. He was covered in dust, several burn marks littered his face, but we still smirked devilishly at Scott, even though his teeth were stained red with blood. Scott took a hesitant step back as Angel rose and spread his wings out to their full extent. 

“What happened to Storm?” Scott asked breathlessly as they began pacing around each other. Angel just a shrugged, a full body movement because of his wings. 

“Crashed somewhere, I don’t know, and I don’t care.” He said and plucked a feather from his wing to toy with. “But I can’t let you interfere with the apocalypse.” 

With that, he thew the feather at Scott, who dodged, but not before it clipped his arm. Scott hissed, and grabbed the cut as he ducked to avoid a feather to the face. 

Scott danced around Angel, looking for an opening that never came. After he barely dodged the fifth feather or so, he realized he was going to have to fight even have a chance at surviving this. Angel seemed to have come to the same conclusion, because when he plucked the sixth feather, he wielded it like a knife. 

“Come on, laser boy, I know you have some sort of training!” He taunted and lunged forward at Scott. The x man jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the slice aimed at his gut. Angel laughed and swung again, forcing Scott to roll out of the way. 

Scott scrabbled to get up, struggling to find purchase in the lose sand, but managed to stumble away from Angel only to end up trapped at a dead end as the enemy stomped up behind him. 

Angel was a few strides behind him, which gave Scott time to notice the rusty pipe jutting out of the sand at his feet. He didn’t even think, he just grabbed it and swung it with as much force as he could muster. 

Metal hit metal with a brash clang and a few sparks. Angel grunted and snapped away from Scott for just a moment to inspect his wing. Several of the biggest feathers were bent by their run in with Scott and his pipe. The youth stared at his mangled plumage for long second before glaring back at Scott with pure murder in his eyes. 

“Oh you IDIOT!” Angel shouted, once again throwing his wings open. “You’re going to regret that you good-for nothing son of a-“ 

Before he could finish the insult, Angel was slammed into the side of a nearby building by the wind with enough force to dent the wall. Scott winced, but couldn’t help but smile when storm landed between him and the winged man who laid groaning against the collapsed wall. On the bright side, at least the mansion rubble wouldn’t seem so bad now compared to this place. 

Storm glanced over her shoulder at Scott and gave him a smile. 

“You’re welcome.” 

“Yeah, thanks.” He smiled and rubbed the back of his neck as he walked up to join her in watching Angel stir slightly in a weak attempt to stand up. “So, uh, what do we do with him?”

Storm glanced over at him at the question before a smile spread across her face. 

“I’ve got an idea.” 

Just a minute later, Scott and Storm left angel by the wall, held in place by a pipe wrapped around his waist and melted to the building behind him.


	15. A/N

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I just had some questions...

So, I’ve just kind of been having some ideas recently and, while I won’t be having the finished product in a while, I wanted to start planning them if it’s something you would all be interested in, and this is too much for one author’s note at the beginning of a chapter. So, let’s get down to business. 

First off, I’ve had a decent number of ideas revolving around AUs.....and by that I mean the traditional stuff. Coffee shop, detective, Star Wars, anything we can think of, really. I like the idea of getting to push the boundaries of the characters I have set up without effecting canon and I thought it would be fun to explore for a couple thousand words as more like crack fics that don’t effect the main story line. I’m up for anything, so if you’re interested in the ideas I’ve proposed let me know and I’ll get on planning a decent storyline for it. Don’t Expect it completed in a while, but it will get done. I have some more things I want to set up characterization wise before I jump into that, but I wanted to get the idea out there before I forget.

Secondly, if anyone is interested in chatting with me outside the comments about this story, or anything x men, MCU, or Star Wars related, I have a fanfic.net account where we can private message to make things easier. I’d freaking love to talk to anybody, and I’d be willing to talk more in-depth character creation and writing stuff. ( my username is legoboss15 over there, I think you can search me...)

Thirdly, I was wondering if you guys would be interested in more character q/a, kind of like a did for the writer’s asks, but more tailored towards characters. Fears, random facts, favorite color and why, etc. I can make a list or you can send requests, I’m up for anything, but I wanted to really establish the characters I’m setting up and this is the best way I can think to do it. (The private message thing is also a good way to do this is you have your own head canons or things you want worked in ;) ) 

And lastly, I wanted to give kind of a heads up for what I’ve got planned. I keep saying I have a whole universe planned out, and it’s time that I give you some insight into what that will look like. 

After apocalypse, I won’t be following movie territory anymore and frankly, it’s where things get really interesting. I spend a good bit of time during Peter’s recovery from the broken leg, not only for the angst, but to show how everyone grows as a team and comes closer together after the catastrophe that is apocalypse. There will be romance, eventually, which I’m excited to get to. There will be universe jumping, multiple times. John’s backstory WILL be explored, I promise, but all the pieces are there right now, lol.   
Not quite yet, but it’s coming, I’m going to start an MCU fic following a girl (much like Kate bishop) training under Hawkeye and a young girl who they rescue along the way.   
In the x men fic, you’ll get to see some more missions, ranging from a cave rescue to reality jumping madness. Everything is mapped out, so I hope you stick around.

Thanks guys! I love you all!! See you Monday ;)


	16. CHARACTER Q/A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tis what the title sounds like

Okay okay okay. Here’s the deal, I kind of want to answer all of these...just saying. So just telling me to answer all of them is 100% fine. When it says OC, you can just fill it in with any and all characters I’m writing for currently. If you have any questions outside of this you can put those in as well and I shall answer them right away. Depending on the question, I’m going to Answer from their point of view, if you have a specific question where you want “the characters” answer and not “mine” then let me know that too. 

1\. On a scale of “is occasionally forced to bathe” to “Instagram model with sponsors to hoe for” how involved is your OC’s Skincare routine?  
2\. What are your OC’s food preferences (flavors/textures/spiciness/calories/ when and how they eat) and how did they get that way?  
3\. What’s something pointless/petty/unimportant that IRRATIONALLY ANNOYS THE HECK out of your OC?  
4\. What’s your OC’s response to being asked for money by a homeless person?  
5\. Does your OC get lost easily? What do they do when they do get lost?  
6\. What would STOP your OC from Doing The Right Thing in a tense situation?  
7\. Realistically, could your OC (in their normal circumstances- i.e. at thier own house/battlecamp/spaceship etc.) keep a small child alive for a week if they had to? A Dog? A Houseplant? A rock with a smiley face painted on?  
8\. If your OC had to take the S.A.T. tomorrow with one night to prep, how would they do? both emotionally and academically.  
9\. What would cause your OC to chose to do something petty/pointlessly cruel?  
10\. On a scale of “Complete and Justified nervous breakdown” to “Conquer The Entire Galaxy and become an Immortal God-Emperor”, how well would your OC handle being abducted by Aliens?  
11\. What song is 100% garunteed to get your OC beyond turnt and will be sung loudly and emabarrasingly, either in public or the shower?  
12\. What perfectly-normal-to-them-thing does your OC do that confuses/annoys/terrifies thier neighbors?  
13\. Would your OC lie to get out of Trouble?   
14\. What thing did your OC’s parents do that your OC wishes they had a better explanation for?  
15\. How often does your OC “zone out” or do things on autopilot and how severe have the problems that have arisen from that been?  
16\. How strong or weak is your OC’s Impulse control? What’s the worst thing that happened becuase of thier Impulsivity or inability to be so?  
17\. How does your OC sabotage themselves?   
18\. What’s the trashiest item in your OC’s wardrobe, when was the last time they wore it and why do they still have it?  
19\. How Dehydrated is your OC right now? Are they going to fix this?  
20\. What’s your OC smell like? no, not that “Vanilla and Anxiety” evocative stuff, realistically. Body odor? what have they been touching all day? When was thier last shower? Did they put on any kind of artificial scent?


	17. Q/A answers - John

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As requested, all the questions for John, both answered by him and me! If there are any more requests let me know! There was a lot I got typed out so I decided to make it a chapter, sorry for the spam that isn’t actual chapters, but there will be one tomorrow;)

1\. On a scale of “is occasionally forced to bathe” to “Instagram model with sponsors to hoe for” how involved is your OC’s Skincare routine?

John’s answer: “Enough, I guess? I don't know, I don’t stink so....” *shrugs* 

My answer as the author:   
John cares about as much as a normal teenage guy, unless it’s before a dance competition and then he’s crazy clean

2\. What are your OC’s food preferences (flavors/textures/spiciness/calories/ when and how they eat) and how did they get that way?

John’s answer: “oh, anything spicy, I guess. I’m not that picky.” 

My answer as the author: John loves Anything spicy, like, all the spices. He’ll take a bite out of a ghost pepper if he got the chance. He can have a sweet tooth, but part of that died when he stopped being able to eat ice cream. And, of all things, he hates lettuce, like so much. He has no reason, by all accounts it doesn’t make sense, but lettuce can go die in a hole. 

3\. What’s something pointless/petty/unimportant that IRRATIONALLY ANNOYS THE HECK out of your OC?

John’s answer: “oh my gosh, people singing badly. It’s stupid, I know, but so help me, if Scott *tries* to sing anymore, well, anything, then I will kill him.” (By that he means flip out and sing over him)

My answer as the author: He gets frustrated at people singing off key, especially his favorite songs. They are sacred to him and should be respected. (No one at the mansion dares to sing imagine dragons anymore) 

4\. What’s your OC’s response to being asked for money by a homeless person?

John’s answer: “Uhh, well once when I lived in Orlando I got asked for cash and I gave the guy my lunch money and ate half of my best friend’s food at school, does that count?” 

My answer as the author: this is a hard one, I feel like it depends on the time of year. If it’s winter he’s much more likely to just push on, but any other time he’d give them a ten and shuffle awkwardly away. 

5\. Does your OC get lost easily? What do they do when they do get lost?

John’s answer: “l don't think I get lost easily. I've gotten lost while I was camping, but I was like, 9. I can usually recognize landmarks that I've passed.” 

My answer as the author: he can keep basic things straight, mostly in his own head, but if given a giant list of directions his brain kind of short circuits and he falls back on his own abilities. Luckily for him, his own abilities are usually enough to figure out where he is and what to do. 

6\. What would STOP your OC from Doing The Right Thing in a tense situation?

John’s answer: “Wow. That's a......actually that's a good question. Probably my friends getting hurt. If they get hurt, then I kinda get distracted by.....uh, blinding rage that someone hurt them.” 

My answer as the author: fear. Not of others or what could happen to him. He doesn’t give a crap about that and often throws himself in harms way. Fear of himself and making everything worse and hurt his friends. It’s happened once and it will happen again. he’s sure of it. 

7\. Realistically, could your OC (in their normal circumstances- i.e. at thier own house/battlecamp/spaceship etc.) keep a small child alive for a week if they had to? A Dog? A Houseplant? A rock with a smiley face painted on?

John’s answer: “Legit just a dog and a rock. Everything else I don't trust myself with.” 

My answer as the author: the child John could probably handle. He has a way with kids, even though he had no siblings. (Don’t Tell him that though, because he’s convinced the kid would die in his care.) The only thing that he couldn’t take care off would be the plant. The plant would die. 

8\. If your OC had to take the S.A.T. tomorrow with one night to prep, how would they do? both emotionally and academically.

John’s answer: “I would panic, but I would realize that I just have to study as much I possible. I would probably do really badly...”

My answer as the author: panic and pull an all-nighter then do unexplainable well on the test

9\. What would cause your OC to chose to do something petty/pointlessly cruel?

John’s answer: “I-I...I guess if i got surprised by something cold I could lash out, but, uh, but-“ *looks extremely uncomfortable and leaves the room* 

My answer as the author: cruel or retaliation? If someone is threatening his friends and family, John is quick to lash out and fight back, most of the time getting himself in more trouble. But he’d never purposely hurt someone who didn’t deserve it. Never. NEVER. 

10\. On a scale of “Complete and Justified nervous breakdown” to “Conquer The Entire Galaxy and become an Immortal God-Emperor”, how well would your OC handle being abducted by Aliens?

John’s answer: “I would be too fanboyish to actually panic.” 

My answer as the author: he’d freaking love it the whole time, as long as the aliens weren’t evil jerks. He’d like to explore everything and float around in space. A dream come true, so to speak. 

11\. What song is 100% garunteed to get your OC beyond excited and will be sung loudly and emabarrasingly, either in public or the shower?

John’s answer: “Its one of two. Light Em Up by Fall Out Boy, or Top of the World by Imagine Dragons.” 

My answer as the author: yep, just as he said. UWU 

12\. What perfectly-normal-to-them-thing does your OC do that confuses/annoys/terrifies thier neighbors?

John’s answer: “uh, I don’t know. I’m kind of a weirdo in general...I guess putting hot sauce on everything? I did that at a birthday part in Florida on a piece of cake and everyone flipped out” 

My answer as the author: outside of the mansion, John ordering things like a mug of hot water is weird. The team knows him pretty well, but he keeps secrets like no one else for things that seem silly, but mean a lot to him. 

13\. Would your OC lie to get out of Trouble? 

John’s answer: “Don't show my parents this, but I've done that so many times I can't count them”

My answer as the author: yep. He does, but he mainly dodges the question rather than flat out lie, but don’t put it past him. 

14\. What thing did your OC’s parents do that your OC wishes they had a better explanation for?

John’s answer: “I actually don’t know, I love both my parents.” 

My answer as the author: unlike most of the x men team, John has a solid relationship with his parents. However, he wishes they were a bit more proud of their own mutant powers. (Kind of hypocritical, isn’t it) 

15\. How often does your OC “zone out” or do things on autopilot and how severe have the problems that have arisen from that been?

John’s answer: “As you know, I'm very vague. And I make people very mad when I'm not specific. So most of the time, my vagueness causes arguments. I tend to get lost in what I’m doing rather than zone out.” 

My answer as the author: John tends to hyper focus rather than zone out. He’ll sit in “his” tree and work on whatever song he’s currently writing for hours on end. He zones out most when he’s laying in a nice sunspot. 

16\. How strong or weak is your OC’s Impulse control? What’s the worst thing that happened becuase of thier Impulsivity or inability to be so?

John’s answer: “mmm, I’m not the best at controlling myself....”

My answer as the author: when angry, John’s impulse control sucks, so so badly. Hence why he got himself in so much trouble with Stryker. ;) in general, his impulse control is somewhere between the maximoffs and Kurt. 

17\. How does your OC sabotage themselves? 

John’s answer: “welp. How did I know this question was going to come up. I literally sabotage myself all the time, but I have to. My powers are crazy when they get out of control and I have to keep a lid on it. If I didn’t, I guess I’d be more powerful, but it’s not worth it, not be a long shot.” 

My answer as the author: FeAr AgAiN. John’s main struggle is his own powers and the destruction they have caused. He has fused himself with his powers (or rather what they have done) and feels guilty for everything he’s accidentally done as if he had planned it out. 

18\. What’s the trashiest item in your OC’s wardrobe, when was the last time they wore it and why do they still have it?

John’s answer: “oh my gosh, not that stupid dance costume again, I hate it so much...” *hides head in hands* 

My answer as the author: most of the time, his dance costumes are fine and he feels comfortable in them, but it only took one trashy one for him to throw it in the back of his closet and never want to look at it again, even though he’s supposed to keep all his costumes. 

19\. How Dehydrated is your OC right now? Are they going to fix this?

John’s answer: “I guess I’m thirsty now, so I’m dehydrated I guess?” 

My answer as the author: more often then not, John is dehydrated. It just comes with the territory. He forgets to drink water and half the time when it’s easily available it’s cold. 

20\. What’s your OC smell like? no, not that “Vanilla and Anxiety” evocative stuff, realistically. Body odor? what have they been touching all day? When was thier last shower? Did they put on any kind of artificial scent?

John’s answer: “I smell like me. Plain and simple.” 

My answer as the author: smoke! He smells like smoke most of the time, literally. Not cigarette smoke, but the kind after a bonfire. But other then that, if it’s summer, he smells like outside (you know what I mean) because of how much time he spends in the sun. Ironically enough though, he never smells like sweat, simply because he doesn’t sweat. He just doesn’t. Bobby thinks it’s unfair.


	18. The end of an age that never came

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter’s life sucks. Erik protests him. And Jean protects them both

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gasp* what is this, a real chapter????? Impossible! It’s not impossible, here we are, the Monday update! I hope the q and a was interesting for you guys and I’m still accepting requests for it. Enjoy and stay safe out there

From where he knelt, Peter could honestly say that he was the most miserable he’d ever been. Well, he could say that if he could form coherent sentences, but his thoughts weren’t moving much past practically begging for the pain to stop. 

Everything was kind of a blur, at least everything except the red hot burning in his leg. That was strong enough as it was, thank you very much. And then, if things couldn’t get any worse, Apocalypse *stomped*, actually stomped, on Peter’s knee and he *screamed*, almost loud enough to rival the initial breakage. Apocalypse whispered some sort of villain BS in his ear, which Peter zoned out because it was stupid villain BS and he had other things to focus on. Things like the sound his knee made when something else broke. 

Peter froze up in a stiff sort of hyperventilating induced shock as he heard another crunch (was anything NOT broken?!) and the blue guy forced his head up towards his dad. If Peter wasn’t drowning in overstimulated pain receptors, giving him firm get-your-butt-out-of-there-right-now vibes, then it would have meant more to him, but all that got through was the message that he was about to die. And he was about to die at the hands of his unknowing father. What a way to go. On the bright side, At least his leg would stop hurting when he was dead. 

Peter looked up at Erik with a pathetic childish tear stained face, but he didn’t give a crap, he was about to die so who cares if he had any dignity left. Erik raised a spear and Peter closed his eyes. He couldn’t look his dad in the eye as he got killed by him, then again he would have closed his eyes no matter who it was that was killing him. 

There was a thunk, but no more pain and all of a sudden Peter was falling much too quickly towards the sand and barely had enough time to catch himself on his elbows. It jarred him to the bone, but it was better than landing on his face. 

Peter cracked an eye open and turned his head just in time to see Apocalypse pull the spear out of his throat and toss it right in front of Peter’s face. He didn’t have the strength to force his head back around and look at apocalypse. So, he kept his head down as so many things started happening at once it made his head hurt. 

Peter had the sense to cover his head as metal wizzed passed him, but the explosions from it hitting apocalypse’s force field (because yeah, apparently he could do that) made it difficult to stay out of the line of fire. Everything was too loud, too bright, just...just too much for the speedster to comprehend. He grabbed the sand, literally grabbed it like an idiot, as if it would help something. All it did was slip through his shaking, bloody knuckles. Just like everything was slipping away from him.

As Peter sat there, drifting in and out of consciousness, the world burned around him, almost literally. But for the first time that day, and especially since his leg was...well, totaled, he didn’t want to think about it, he felt a glimmer of hope that they might actually win this thing. Because magneto, his dad, was on their side.   
———————————————-  
Erik’s metal rained down on Apocalypse with more force than he’d ever exerted but the stupid blueberry had a forcefield up and a smirk on his face as the metal was consumed by his powers. 

“Who is coming to help you, War?” Apocalypse asked as he took a step towards Erik. “Now that you’ve given yourself for the boy.” 

Erik didn’t dignify the taunt with a response. He hadn’t thought his move through, true, but it didn’t matter. He’d done the right thing even though it no longer seemed like he’d survive to see whatever came of the battle. It hardly mattered anymore. He’d come face to face with death enough to spit in its face whenever it came around. His son, however, he doubted had had such a close brush with the idea. The boy was too young to die. He still had a chance to do something and if Erik has to die to save him, then so be it. 

Apocalypse stepped ever closer to him as sand crept up towards he metal bender. 

“You could have been great.” Apocalypse continued. “Look at your now, so much power. Wasted, for the likes of him,” he said with a wave back towards Peter collapsed on the ground. “And now you will die, just like all the others.” 

Erik held his ground, even as the sand snaked around his boot. If he could just get an opening then he could-but he didn’t have to. Behind apocalypse, storm landed, fully crackling with lighting which rolled off of her and surged into Apocalypse’s back. The beast roared and turned to her, meaning to send the sand through her when a red blast grazed his face. The sand fell away from Erik, allowing him to take a full breath. 

“Over here, you ass hole!” One of the other mutants in the group yelled from where he ducked behind a pile of rumble. Erik smiled slightly at their bravery, risking their lives to save an enemy. Charles would be proud. Though apocalypse was enraged. He roared yet again, now having to maintain a full forcefield to block both Erik’s and storm’s attacks. 

“FOOLS!” Apocalypse yelled. “you will all fall before me! I will have Charles and the boy will die, there is nothing you can do to stop it!!” 

The shouts and taunts went on, but Erik zoned them out to focus on his powers and scan the field. His eyes kept drifting back to Peter, even in the chaos. He should have been focused on attacking Apocalypse, but he couldn’t take his eyes off his son as the boy kelt there in what must have been agony. He looked so young. Just a child caught up in this mess Erik had helped cause on the principle of making a better life for them all...oh how far he had fallen. 

Out of the corner of his eye, a movement caught Erik’s attention, just enough to capture his attention. From the opposite side of the clearing, Quake crawled out from behind a building with her eyes set on Peter. The look was all Erik needed to know. She meant to kill his son and as she raised her hands towards him, something snapped in him. 

He focused on her, glared at her as if she would spontaneously combust. Extending one arm towards her, Erik shot two steel beams her way. They hit one after the other, sinking through her and into the sand in a giant metal X. And just like that, quake was no more. 

Apocalypse shifted, ever so slightly, so see the corpse of his follower and the growing puddle of blood around her before he locked eyes with Erik. 

“War. You will die before this day is over, I promise you that.” 

“I doubt that.” A voice came from behind them both. Erik couldn’t turn, but he caught a glimpse of a rising glow in the corner of his vision first before apocalypse was lifted off his feat by some invisible force.   
...........................................................  
Jean groaned as she came to, blinking around at the dark anti-chamber. The last thing she remember was apocalypse slamming her into the wall before everything faded to darkness. She jumped up with a muttered curse when memories of their mission came back in an instant. He head pounded in protest, but she did her best to ignore it. She could worry about her headache later. She sprinted for the exist, dodging around pillars as she went. If she was right, she needed to get herself outside as soon as she could before everything really went south. 

Jean didn’t know exactly what she was supposed to do when she got there. Apocalypse already seemed to not be too effected by physic attacks, but she had to try. When she crossed the threshold of the pyramid, harsh light hit her immediately and made her wince and blink back tears before her eyes adjusted. 

Even disoriented, Jean’s powers kicked on now that she was closer to her team. She grabbed her head with a grunt, struggling not to fall over as their thoughts crashed down on her. It was incoherent, to much was happening to lock in on anything, which was probably a good thing given that somewhere in the mix was an amount of pain that Jean was sure would knock her out if she focused on it too hard. 

Instead, she pushed forward and sprinted across the sand towards the sounds of a struggle. A massive struggle, maybe more of a battle. Above her, Magneto came into view, launching whole shafts of metal down at someone below. Jean winced back from the glare, but forced herself to focus in on the figures in the middle of the chaos. 

One of them was obviously apocalypse, standing tall in the cover of his forcefield as he shouted up at Magneto. But the other figure, huddling on the ground, was harder to identify. 

But then Jean picked out the silver hair and realized that the vague cloud of pain hovering around her was all pouring from him. If he’d been anyone else, his thoughts would have overwhelmed her immediately. It was just lucky, she guessed, but not for Peter. 

“Jean.” A voice came from inside her own head and it took a moment for her to place it as the professor. 

“Professor, what is going-“

“There’s no time for that, Jean, Erik needs help.” He sounded tired. Distant. Like he was talking to her through an old radio. “They are keeping him busy, but they aren’t strong enough.” 

“But-but I’m not strong enough either. I can control it, but if I let it go, if I really let it go, I can’t-“

“You can’t control it. But I will help you. You have to, Jean. You have to.” 

After that, his voice was gone for a moment before Jean felt a power surge through her chest like someone had shocked her. The whole world seemed more vibrant, more saturated. She could pick out details she never would’ve seen otherwise. He breath was quick in her ears, the crunch of metal hitting metal distinct even in the cacophony of the battle. Whatever the professor was doing, she both loved it and wanted it to go away and never bother her again. 

She wasn’t herself, almost, but a bystander to someone else’s power as they rose in the air and floated towards apocalypse like some character from a comic book, all alight with the glow of their own power. The last time Jean checked, she couldn’t fly, but yet she passed Erik at eye level. The words that came from her mouth didn’t sound like her either. More elegant, composed. Not some scared little girl taking on a god for her friends with shaking hands and a trembling voice. In that moment, Jean herself felt like a god. 

Apocalypse roared up at her as she extended a hand and lifted him in the air. A smile tugged at her lips. She couldn’t help but think how her teammates would joke about how she force choked someone like Darth Vader. She decided to stick with the theme. 

Jean tightened her invisible grip, causing Apocalypse’s roar to die in his throat. 

“We warned you.” The voice that wasn’t quite her’s said. “You should have known not to mess with us. This is not your time. You have lost your chance. And you will not ruin this world for others because of your own failure.” 

As she spoke, she squeezed ever tighter, making apocalypse flail about in what was an almost amusing manner. Now he was the beast in the trap, squirming about for some escape. How beautifully ironic. Something switched in Jean. He powers left as suddenly as they came, rushing toward apocalypse in a blinding flash of light that seemed to infect him to his core. 

Jean knew what was coming, somehow, maybe it was the lingering power, but she had time to lift her hands and create a telekinetic bubble around Apocalypse to contain the explosion that consumed him. She barely maintained it enough to protect Peter, but she managed, someone. 

Before the light fully covered him, apocalypse locked eyes with Jean, almost begging with her and then he was gone; torn apart like tissue paper in a tornado.


	19. Q/A - Peter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The answers to all the q/a questions for Peter :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, this was fun, almost as fun and John’s. Erik’s will be out before the next chapter, thanks for reading and really taking an interest in the characters! This has helped me with understanding who I’m writing as well and it’s a chance for me to get to show you all a bit more of their personalities. We can do more of these in the future...? Different questions? Thoughts?

1\. On a scale of “is occasionally forced to bathe” to “Instagram model with sponsors to hoe for” how involved is your OC’s Skincare routine? 

Peter: “what kind of question is that? Of course I shower, pfft, who do you think I am? Scott?” 

Well...let’s just say Peter isn’t the cleanest. And is definitely not the cleanest out of the x men team. He and Jess and known as the slobs of the group, and its not unusual for Jean to insist they shower. If he does bathe on a regular basis it’s because. a) after a long run he’s sweaty and doesn’t like the feeling. Or b) he has nothing better to do with his time. 

2\. What are your OC’s food preferences (flavors/textures/spiciness/calories/ when and how they eat) and how did they get that way? 

Peter: “oh I eat all the time, literally, anything and everything, but I opt for sweet things most of the time. Pizza, Twinkies, anything like that. It’s not junk food, no matter what Hank says. Twinkies are what keep this country alive.” 

Peter eats like no one else. Not only is he a speedster, but he’s a teenage boy and needs an insane amount of food to function. If he misses a snack, he tends to get lightheaded, shaky, have some chills, and at once downs a box of whatever kind of snack cake he can get his hands on. The only thing he actively avoids is caffeine. Any sodas, coffee, energy drinks, those are all off the table, for obvious reasons.

3\. What’s something pointless/petty/unimportant that IRRATIONALLY ANNOYS THE HECK out of your OC?

Peter: “dude, people taking my food! It’s so annoying, I have to work hard enough to keep myself fed as it is. And when people take forever getting to the point. The least they could do was be straight forward if I’m sitting through the time to talk to them, you know?” 

Anything that takes an unnecessary amount of time gets to Peter faster than anything else. Especially when about food. When no one can decide on what to get for lunch, Peter loses it half the time and ends up eating by himself before they all decide. 

4\. What’s your OC’s response to being asked for money by a homeless person?

Peter: “I think I’d give him some cash, I can’t be sure, I guess, but yeah, I would give him at least a ten.” 

Money? What money? Silly of you to assume Peter would have money to give, but, to his credit, he would steel the guy a cheeseburger and a drink from the nearest McDonalds. 

5\. Does your OC get lost easily? What do they do when they do get lost?

Peter: “Pffft, I never get lost....okay, except for that one time, but the Midwest all looks the same!” 

Peter has a surprisingly good sense of direction that was born mostly from necessity. It only took once getting lost in the middle of nowhere before he payed attention to street signs. If he does get lost he doesn’t *panic* but he definitely doesn’t wait around to be found. He will run until he hits a town and shamefully ask for directions. 

6\. What would STOP your OC from Doing The Right Thing in a tense situation?

Peter: “if anyone touches my family I lose it. I have a small enough family as it is.” 

As he said, Peter is fiercely protective of his mother and Jess, just see what happened with Stryker, and he forms close bonds very easily. The x men team is part of his family now, and always will be to him. He’d die for them all many times over, even if he’s scared as heck to do it. And, when it comes down to it, he might give up the greater good for them. 

7\. Realistically, could your OC (in their normal circumstances- i.e. at thier own house/battlecamp/spaceship etc.) keep a small child alive for a week if they had to? A Dog? A Houseplant? A rock with a smiley face painted on?

Peter: “as awesome as I am, don’t leave me alone with a kid. We would both die. The rock would be fine though, But it might get lost...”

Leaving Peter alone with anything more than a rock would...not be a good idea. The child would be the more responsible one of them both. Under supervision, fine, he’s perfectly alright with kids, good with them even, but DONT make him the caretaker. 

8\. If your OC had to take the S.A.T. tomorrow with one night to prep, how would they do? both emotionally and academically.

Peter: “it’s between two things: use my speed and study like a crazy person or binge eat snack cakes as I panic. There is no in between.” 

Peter would try to study, he really would. As much as he hates studying, he’s not actually quite as lazy as most people tend to think when it comes to academics. While he uses his speed to do his homework, he doesn’t do it half way as long as there isn’t too much of it for him to get board doing. Unfortunately, he’d probably only get an hour of studying done before he fell asleep on his notes. (No caffeine after all) 

9\. What would cause your OC to chose to do something petty/pointlessly cruel? 

Peter: “I have a short temper. I guess that will do it. I don’t know exactly what this question is supposed to mean...” 

Peter *can* have a short temper, but it’s not as bad as he thinks, especially given his power set, but that doesn’t put him past doing some mean things. He’s a straight forward guy, and batting around the bush gets to him. Or, pushing forward when he’s already said no to something. When someone questions his decisions, not the silly ones, but the real ones he knows are serious, it hurts and he can snap. He takes time to think it over, even if it’s in his own time, and having someone doubt him makes him mad, even if they are right. (Oh, and he’s beat the crap out of anyone who came for him or his family if he got the chance. I’m looking at you apocalypse...) 

10\. On a scale of “Complete and Justified nervous breakdown” to “Conquer The Entire Galaxy and become an Immortal God-Emperor”, how well would your OC handle being abducted by Aliens?

Peter: “knowing what my life is like, that will probably happen to me. I’d like to think I’d handle it well, maybe not take over the universe though...” *shrugs* 

Peter would be alright in a situation like that, maybe. He’d probably sass them and get himself killed, but that’s just his way of coping. ;) 

11\. What song is 100% garunteed to get your OC beyond turnt and will be sung loudly and emabarrasingly, either in public or the shower?

Peter: “SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THESE!!” 

Yep yep! Agreed :) we all know Peter loves the classics. The Beetles, Pink Floyd, Etc. 

12\. What perfectly-normal-to-them-thing does your OC do that confuses/annoys/terrifies thier neighbors?

Peter: “what doesn’t confuse normal people about me? The hair is what I get the most often, and hyperactive stuff. I got in a lot of trouble in school for that.” 

Mostly it’s the quirks that come with his powers. Bouncing his foot on the ground, constantly fidgeting, etc. it’s just in Peter’s nature. However, out of the team, what surprised them was his ability to cook. Peter can actually cook like no one else on the team, which is funny to everyone else, because most of the time he eats “junk” 

13\. Would your OC lie to get out of Trouble? 

Peter: “is this a trick question? Is this one of those times where if I say yes I get in trouble?” *squints at you* “...in that case....no, I never lie to get out of trouble.” 

Yep. Yep yep. So many yeps. Peter lies all the time, flat out, though he’s trying to be better at it around his friends. He’s lied to get out of trouble with the police, but his *real* arrest and run in with Stryker shook a bit of sense into him. :) 

14\. What thing did your OC’s parents do that your OC wishes they had a better explanation for?

Peter: “ack, I could go on about this for ages, real ages. I wish I knew why Erik left, just...just like a solid reason, you know? Do you know how much could have been avoided if he just left a freaking note for me?!” 

Uh...yeah, Peter is a bit salty about the whole Erik situation (not as salty as Jess though...) though the apocalypse chaos changes his out look a little bit. He doesn’t necessarily want Erik back in his life, he just wants to know why he left in the first place...

15\. How often does your OC “zone out” or do things on autopilot and how severe have the problems that have arisen from that been?

Peter: “hm? Sorry, what was that?” 

Peter does zone out, half the time just to keep himself sane so time passes faster. He can’t zone out too much when running or he could crash, but at the same time it comes about as naturally as breathing. 

16\. How strong or weak is your OC’s Impulse control? What’s the worst thing that happened becuase of thier Impulsivity or inability to be so?

Peter: “oh, well...eheh, yeah, I’m not the best on impulse control.” *thinks about stealing arcade machines*

Oh, oh, ohhhhh man, while Peter will take time to think through *really* important decisions, day to day things fly so far under that radar. He acts first, thinks second, basically 95% of the time. And boy, does it get him in trouble...*glares at arcade machines even though I wrote that part*

17\. How does your OC sabotage themselves? 

Peter: “pfft, what do you mean? I don’t do that.” 

In a way, Peter’s downfall is a certain level of arrogance. His powers make him untouchable (or do they???)....or at least that’s what he used to think. He has to admit, Stryker and apocalypse shook him, but even in the craziness and ptsd that it all caused, at least he’s more cautious. 

18\. What’s the trashiest item in your OC’s wardrobe, when was the last time they wore it and why do they still have it?

Peter: “uhh...I don’t even know what that counts as, a pair of ripped jeans?” 

Surprisingly enough, Peter doesn’t have anything really trashy, mainly just clothes torn up by running that he hasn’t bothered to throw out. 

19\. How Dehydrated is your OC right now? Are they going to fix this?

Peter: “okay, okay, to be completely serious, I have to drink enough water or I’ll pass out when I try to run. I stay hydrated by necessity.” 

Yep, pretty much as he said. If he doesn’t drink enough, he’ll tank, just like if he doesn’t get enough food. 

1\. What’s your OC smell like? no, not that “Vanilla and Anxiety” evocative stuff, realistically. Body odor? what have they been touching all day? When was thier last shower? Did they put on any kind of artificial scent?

Peter: “I probably stink, to be honest, I shower, sure, but I run a lot.” 

Peter smells mainly of three things a) a light amount of his deodorant B) faux leather from his jacket that lingers on him even when he isn’t wearing it. And c) burning rubber, only slightly, most of the times after a particularity long or hard run when he burns the soles of his shoes.


	20. Patches (can’t quite fix what’s broken)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath, Hank has to lead. (All from Hank’s POV)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gasp* update...weeow. Unfortunately I’ve been quite busy and didn’t get all of the questions for Erik done, but I did finish up this chapter. I’ll get the questions done as soon as I can. As for this chapter, it came so naturally, I like how it flows and where it ends. I just like it, I guess and i hope you all will too. Thanks again for the support! It keeps me going!

After apocalypse’s final roar, Hank finally left charles and sprinted out onto the field. Scott has gone instantly to Jean, supporting her by the looks of it. She only seemed to understand half of what was going on, but Hank didn’t blame her. She’d earned the right to check out and do nothing for a while. Storm had drifted over to Peter, but couldn’t decide what to do. She knelt next to him in the sand, saying something that Hank couldn’t quite here. 

The doctor took a breath as he started their way, trying to prepare himself for the damage to Peter’s leg. Even though he couldn’t make out Storm’s words, he could hear Peter’s ragged breaths. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Raven and froze, looking between the speedster and his not-so-Secret-crush several times before a voice came from behind him. 

“I’ll help her. You help the boy.” 

Hank spun around and came face to face with Magneto, still in his battle armor. Hank glared at him, a low growl rising in his throat. 

“Erik.” 

Erik raised an eyebrow. “Hank.” 

“If you hurt her, I’ll-“

“Kill me in my sleep, yes, I know.” He said with a wave of his hand. “Now are you going to let me help or are you going to let them both suffer while you throw a fit.” 

“....I’ll be watching you.” 

“I’m sure of it.” 

With the end of that lovely exchange, Hank resumed his course towards Peter, going slower this time so he could keep an eye on Magneto. The metal bender seemed true to his word, he helped Raven down gently and checked her over for other injuries. Though if Hank had to guess, her pride was damaged more than anything else. She looked beautiful even though she was glaring at Erik...wow, what a woman...

Hank was snapped back to the task at hand by a soft whimper. He’d have to daydream about Raven later. He knelt next to storm and waved her away so he could get a better look at what he had to deal with. She excused herself to a few feet away, just in case Hank needed anything as he looked Peter over. Peter...well, he wasn’t doing too hot. Besides the broken leg (which was...wow, very broken. It made even Hank a little nauseous) Peter had paled to an inhuman grayish-green color and was shaking all over. It might have been from pain, and probably was, but Hank couldn’t help but wonder when the speedster last ate. 

Hank reached out for Peter’s face, meaning to check the damage there, but Peter winced away from him, face twisted with pain. Hank sighed, of course Peter wouldn’t want him to touch his face, apocalypse had done enough of that. The dark bruises blossoming on Peter’s hairline and jaw was proof enough of that. The doctor’s eyes drifted down to the sand caked around Peter’s lower leg, keeping him from fully being able to get the weight off his leg. he’d have to deal with that too. 

“Peter,” Hank tried. “Peter, can you move?” 

Peter glanced at him, eyes wide and bloodshot, and shook his head so slightly it might have only been a twitch. “I don’t think....I don’t think so-so, blue.” He hissed in a much higher pitched voice than usual, “I-I-I think it’s-it’s broken.” 

Hank glanced down at Peter’s leg and his heart skipped a beat. Yeah...yeah, that was very very broken. Compound fractures at least by the look of it....Hank shook his head and focused back on Peter.

“We’ve got to get you out of the sand so I can get a better look, alright?” 

Peter glanced up at him again and just blinked a few times before he managed a nod. Hank returned the nod and moved to the clump of sand. He could smash it, though that would hurt Peter and the poor kid didn’t need anymore pain in his life. He didn’t trust Scott to blast it off, that might fry Peter as well. 

Hank pushed back on his heels and ran a hand through his fur. This was going to be harder than he thought. He turned around, meaning to call for Jean when he came once again face to face with Erik. 

“What are you doing?” The doctor asked, not bothering to keep his distaste for the man out of his voice. 

“I’m helping you.” 

Hank looked him over. “Really? What are you going to do? Put Peter out of his misery?” 

Erik flinched and shook his head. “You have to get him out of the sand.” He said with a gesture towards Peter. “I’ll help you.” 

“I don’t need you help.” 

“Hank! Damn it, would you get over yourself!” Erik shouted. “You might not need my help but Peter does! Now get out of my way.” 

“You hurt him and I’ll rip you to shreds.” 

“Understood.” 

Hank hesitated for a moment, but backed down and slid out of Erik’s way. He watched the him bend down, talking softly to Peter as he worked metal into the cracks to the sand to pry them apart. Peter seemed unbothered by the company of a mass murderer, but that could be the pain talking. 

Hank watched them both with a sudden feeling of guilt. Erik did, after all, save Peter’s life, who was Hank to stop him from helping Peter now. Hank had been the one to hang back. He’d been the one to abandon Peter while Erik, the enemy, saved his life. 

The doctor sighed with relief as the sand fell away from Peter’s ankle. He fell forward, right onto Erik who caught Peter like he didn’t weigh a thing. Peter let out another whimper, reaching down towards his leg with his good arm, but Hank caught his wrist. 

“Don’t touch it.” He said as gently as he could, but it still came out as a half growl. “You can’t touch it, Peter.” 

“It-it hurts, Hank” Peter mumbled, barely loud enough to be heard. “I-I-I can’t-I can’t, my leg, I can’t, I c-c-c...”

Peter’s eyes drifted shut as he sagged in Erik’s arms. Hank cursed and tapped the side of the speedster’s face. 

“No, no you can’t fall asleep. Peter! You have to stay awake!” 

Peter’s eyes fluttered back opened and he groaned, pulling a bit closer  
To Erik out of instinct. Hank locked eyes with Erik and gave him a nod. 

“We have to get his leg out straight, or as straight as we can.” 

“That will hurt. Badly.” 

Hank nodded, but his determined expression didn’t shift. “Yeah, it will.” 

With that, Hank stood up for a moment to dish out orders, mainly to get everyone out of the way while he and Erik moved Peter. He sent off Scott to see to the professor, though Kurt was already with him, and tasked Storm and Jean with checking the area for survivors. He already no one was there, they were either dead or would have gotten themselves out of the battle, but he needed everyone out of his fur. Well, almost everyone...

Raven stayed with him, a sort of silent agreement they had come to exchanged over a silent nod. And then came time to move Peter in Ernest. It wasn’t going to be easy, and it definitely wasn’t going to be pleasant. 

Hank and Erik exchanged another nod before the latter shifted to hold Peter up from under his arms. Together, with help from Raven when needed, they got Peter laying down, but boy, did he *scream* when Hank moved his leg. Hank winced at the cry and tried not to focus on how Peter shook his head in a silent plea to leave his leg alone. 

In the laying position, Peter’s leg looked even worse, twisted out of place from his hip all the way down to right below his knee. Hank cursed again and brushed the sandy hair out of Peter’s face as the speedster’s eyes drifted closed again. 

“Peter. Peter, I’m sorry, but I need you to stay conscious.” He said. He feared the crash of blood sugar more than good old passing out from pain, but he couldn’t risk it. Peter blinked up at the doctor and bit his lip so hard it drew blood. 

“to-too loud, Hank, I can’t-I can’t-I can’t, H-Hank it-it hurts.” 

“I know it does, you’re doing so well, the real doctors will be here soon and they’ll get you fixed up.” 

Hank wished he had something to give him for the pain in the meantime, but even if he did it wouldn’t work. Pain killers never worked on Peter and it took an insane amount of anesthetic to get him under for surgery. Hank dreaded having to explain Peter’s metabolism to the doctors. 

As Erik shifted again, trying to pillow the speedster’s head, Peter let out a high pitched sound, almost like a kettle. He was trying so so hard not to scream again; the tension showed in every part of him. In that second Peter seemed much younger than 16. He trailed off into a high pitched whimper and a pained twitch. With the twitch came another broken scream, even though he tried to hold it in. 

Both Hank and Erik flinched, but didn’t stop each other from their work. Erik shhed the boy, gently running his hands through his hair as he mumbled in some language Hank didn’t understand. (Romanian maybe? German? Either way, Peter seemed to follow at least half of the words) At least Peter was distracted and awake, which was the important thing, even if Hank hated the idea of magneto being so close to him. 

Hank pulled off his glove and held it in front of Peter’s face when he bit his lip yet again. 

“bite this instead. it will help.” He said. Peter opened his mouth a little and bit down on the glove just in time for another twitch and groaned into the glove. 

Hank didn’t dare set Peter’s leg by himself, he didn’t have the training or the equipment. All he could do was keep him stable. It seemed like forever before the buzz of helicopters sounded above them. 

“oh thank god.” Raven said from behind Hank. He couldn’t agree more, Peter was becoming more out of it with every passing second. 

The helicopters landed a while away, but they still kicked up enough sand to make everyone cough. A team of medical personnel got out, real medical personnel this time, and rushed over to the battle field, only stopping for a moment at the corpse of Quake. 

“over here!” Jean called to them from where she climbed over a collapsed house. She waved some of them over to help Charles and the others rushed over to hank and the rest

One of them cursed when they saw the state peter was in as he knelt next to Hank. 

“Not good.” One of the EMTs mumbled and leaned in a bit closer to Peter’s crushed leg. Erik watched them like they were about to attack. Hank knew better. He was trained, sure, but in the end this wasn’t his field of expertise. It was best to leave It to the experts, even if they were...human. Hank had to basically drag Erik away for the EMTs to get to Peter, but it nearly broke his heart to do so. 

Peter looked up at Hank with wide eyes as the doctor pulled Erik away. The speedster was desperate, scared, almost terrified of the men bustling around him like a hive of angered bees. Hank felt like he was abandoning him, like throwing the lamb to the wolves even if the EMTs were just trying to help. 

“It’s alright, you’re going to be alright.” One of them told Peter over and over again, forcing eye contact with the speedster. Hank knew it was standard protocol, but he could see how Peter began to panic at being cramped and by the way Erik was pulling against him, he saw it too. 

“You’ll be alright, but you have to calm down.” The EMT said again, having to hold Peter down by his shoulders so he didn’t head butt the men down by his leg. “It’ll be alright, just focus on my, okay?” 

No, not okay, very much not okay. Peter wasn’t responding, not in the way the EMTs hoped at least. The speedster pushed against the EMT, unintentionally using his speed as he twitched at random times. Peter screamed *again*, a hollow sound, thoroughly exhausted and trembling all over, as they shifted him into the stretcher. 

After that, two of the EMTs lifted the stretcher and headed for the chopper, closely followed by those transporting Charles. 

“we have to get him to surgery, stat.” The head EMT told hank. “I haven’t seen a break that bad in a while, and definitely not in someone conscious.”

“Well...he’s a special kid.” Hank sighed. 

“Mutant, right?” 

Hank chuckled dryly and nodded as they joined everyone in the match towards the choppers “What gave it away?” 

“Wow.” The EMT scoffed. “Yeah, I’m guessing that’s a joke. We need to go. I’ll call in the surgery and have everything prepped.” 

“Wait-wait.” Hank said and grabbed the guy’s arm before he made the call. “There’s something you need to know. Peter, the kid, he won’t take to your anesthesia, not Unless you really load him up with it.” 

“What?”

Hank sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “His metabolism is enhanced, he burns through any chemical, dope him up really well or he won’t stay under.” 

The EMT stared at him for long moment, phone hovering a few inches from his ear. Hank held his breath, waiting for the anti mutant spew to hit. 

“I-...thank you.” The EMT nodded and gave Hank a pat on the shoulder. “We’ll take good care of him. I promise.”


	21. Surgery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To the hospital!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m soooooooooo sorry for keeping you all waiting! I honestly dont know exactly when I’ll have the next chapter done, everything is crazy for me with work, so bare with me. Regardless, here’s some Erik drama :)

Erik held back for a moment as the x men made their way to the helicopters. As Peter disappeared on board, his jaw jumped. The...humans ran around like they knew what was best. Peter was a mutant child. *His* mutant child. And these humans thought they knew better. 

Hank shot him a glance, more of a glare really, but it was hard to take him seriously under all that fur. 

“They know what they’re doing, Erik.” He called back, turning away from the EMT he had been talking to. “Let them do their work.” 

“They don’t know anything about us.” 

“I told them about Peter.” Hank sighed. “He’ll be fine.” 

“Can you promise that? Can you really promise that? Not to me, but to Peter.” 

Hank stared at him as a scowl settled on his face. “They’re under oath.” 

“It doesn’t matter.” 

“Why are you so protective of him, Erik? You killed your own because of him. What’s different about him that wasn’t there for us?! What makes him different from Raven?! From Charles?!!” 

Erik didn’t answer. Explaining to Hank who peter was...it was too complicated, at least with everything else going on. The whole group was in shambles, cuts and bruises were the worst of it outside of Peter’s leg, but Erik didn’t doubt that there would be lasting damage on more ways than one. Even so, Hank was backing down. 

“Answer me Erik!” He shouted and shoved him backwards. “Why is Peter so different?!” 

“...he’s only a child, Hank.”

The doctor’s glare didn’t shift. He looked Erik dead in the eye and snarled. “So were we.” 

With that, Hank turned on his heel and marched off. Erik Watched him go as a blanket of guilt settled over him. He probably deserved it. But hearing it from Hank...it didn’t help. They’d never been too close, but he took it personally when Erik left them, most likely because of Raven. 

Whatever the doctor’s feelings, they couldn’t be helped. It wasn’t Erik’s fault he held a grudge for so many years...well maybe it was. Had he not pushed them all to get vengeance and fight for themselves, then maybe none of this would have happened. 

Erik’s wallowing was stopped when one of the other *children* came up beside him. This one was all blue, tail and fangs included to make him stand out as a mutant. Erik instantly respected him. 

“Umm...Mr Lensherr, sir?” The kid asked, tail twitching back and forth. “The helicopters are about to leave and-“

“I’m coming.” Erik interrupted and started for the choppers, meaning to leave the kid behind him. He only made it a few strides before the blue boy poofed (quite literally) beside him. He had to fight no to flinch. 

Another moment passed before the kid spoke again. “...thank you.”

Erik froze. 

“What?”

“I-I just want to say thank you for, um, saving Peter, he’s my friend and-and I thought-“

“It was nothing.” Erik said and pushed on, eyed focused on the sand. The boy poofed beside him again. (A teleporter of some sort, he was sure. Must like Azazel) 

“No, really, thank you, I-“

“Enough!” Erik snapped. “I said it was nothing. We have to get on board quickly, you’re friend is in need of a hospital.” 

The boy recoiled at being reprimanded, tail curling around himself and eyes blowing wide in an unmistakable way. It was almost enough to make Erik feel bad. Almost. 

This was war. The chaos that follows a war, maybe, but there were still things to be done and Erik didn’t need heartfelt thanks for doing the humane thing. 

At least the child took it to heart. He teleported away, likely to choppers. Erik was quick to follow him. Within a few minutes, the helicopters were headed for the nearest hospital. 

When they landed, the whole helicopter shook and Peter screamed yet again. Jean winced, feeling another surge of pain coming from him.

After landing, the EMTs rushed Peter away and situated Charles in a room to sleep off his exhaustion. That left the x men team cramped into the tony waiting room of the hospital. 

The team waited around for a miserably long time. It didn’t just feel like hours, it was hours. They all thought of the kids at the mansion and John and Jess and Bobby trying to take care of them. Hank excused himself to make call to see if he could reach anyone at the mansion. He didn’t say if he was successful. 

Four hours went when a very tired looking doctor came in carrying a file. Erik eyed him carefully. The man clearly brought news, bad news, but the looks of it. 

Even so Hank, in a very typical doctor fashion, stood to great the man and shook his hand. The (real) Doctor didn’t seem any happier. He slipped the file out from under his arm and handed it to hank. 

“the x-rays.” He said, brow furrowed and arms crossed. Hank glanced around at the team for a long moment. Erik couldn’t help but wish he would get on with it and just look at the stupid x rays. They might as well rip the bandaid off. 

Hank pulled them out tentatively and looked them over with a grimace. The doctor sighed and began explaining what Hank was looking at (more for everyone else than for him) 

“shattered and dislocated patella, Avulsed fracture on the tibia and a simple fracture on the fibia.” He sighed and took off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose before continuing, trying not to watch the growing looks of horror on the x men’s faces. “several compound fractures in the femur, meaning the bone broke skin. And a dislocated hip. Type one sprain on the left ankle and a mild sprain on his shoulder.” 

A silence fell over the group broken only by a curse from Raven. Erik closed his eyes slowly and took a breath. Regret he had been suppressing smacked him in the face. His son. Peter.....Erik was the cause of this pain; not just Peter’s, but the x men team as a whole. 

These *kids* sat around him, all horrorstricken at the news just relayed to them. 

By the doctor, Hank grimaced and handed him back the x rays. The doctor gave them all a sympathetic smile. 

“What’s recovery like?” Hank asked after another long silence. 

“I can’t say for sure, we’re looking at six hours of reconstructive surgery. Given his metabolism, id say a week and a half of total bedrest and then three months in a full leg cast. Followed by two weeks in a knee brace.....I’m sorry, his powers make it hard to get a sure estimate. It could be longer, but I doubt that it will be any less.” 

Jean sat down, staring off into nothing. Kurt looked like he was about to cry. Storm looked furious and no one could tell what Scott was feeling behind his glasses. Erik barely gave them a glance. All he wanted to do was run to Peter, just tell him it would be alright. It wasn’t alright, but maybe, just maybe, it would be eventually. 

Hank shook himself out of his haze and spoke once again. “I-...thank you. Can we see him?” 

“he’s not awake as far as I know, but I have no idea how long the drugs will last. We would give him more, but given how many people we have here, I would prefer not to use any outside of surgery.” 

“we understand, thank you.” 

Hank fell back to glance around at everyone and shake his head with a sigh. Erik was angry. Angry at apocalypse, himself, and the doctor for not behind able to give his son pain killers. 

It made sense, however unfortunate it was. After all Peter went through an insane amount of meds and the hospital had too many patients to blow their supply of pain killers on one mutant, but Erik couldn’t help the feeling that the fact that they were all mutants had something to do with this in more ways than one. 

“I don’t want you in there with us Erik.” 

Erik froze and turned, only now realizing that Hank had come up behind him. “But-“

“Save it. I don’t care. Take it up with Charles. I won’t have you in there with Peter like this.” Hank growled, keeping his voice low so only the two of them could hear. 

“You can’t tell me that.” Erik snapped back. “You don’t understand.” 

“I understand perfectly. You’re Peter’s father, I know that. Charles told us.” Hank whispered. “But you aren’t going to march in and demand a seat at the table because of a fling you had almost two decades ago. You wait here. You can talk with him later.” 

Erik stood there gawking, mouth opening and closing like a broken mailbox in the wind, but Hank had already pushed past him to exchange a few words with Raven. How DARE Hank say something like that. He had no right! He...he...

He was right. Erik had made his choice, years ago. He would talk with peter, but this wasn’t the time or he place. Once things settled down, when they were back at the mansion, then he would make his move. Still, hanging back stung, but it was the best thing. Maybe not for himself, but for Peter. 

Just a moment The doctor’s pager went off and he looked up, kind of shocked. 

“he’s- he’s awake.” The doctor stammered. “and, uh, asking for someone named Jess.”


	22. In the meantime/heading home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit more into what was going on with John, Jess, and Bobby, plus a little bit more with Hank. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo guyyyyyys!! Did you see that Evan Peters is cast in WandaVision ?!?!?!?!! LIKE WHAT IM SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!!! Anyway, hope you guys like this one and keep that feedback coming, almost 2000 words here and GOSH DANG IT I WILL ANSWER THE QUESTIONS FOR ERIK IM SORRYYYYY ITS TAKEN THIS LONG. No one is complaining (thank you all for that) but I feel back anyway. Regardless, enjoy:)

Everyone sat around the fire John had started up, bundled up in whatever they could find, which...well, it wasn’t much. Jess and Bobby had their winter jackets, the kids all had what they were wearing inside, and John had his fire proof jacket and clothing Hank had made specifically for him, but it was cold enough to make them all shiver, except for Bobby of course. Though he had trouble enjoying the cold given the situation.

Even with the fire, some of the kids were whining about the cold. Kitty tried to be brave but eventually said that “it was too cold to be brave and she just wanted to go inside.” She crossed her pudgy arms and set a scowl on her face. 

“I know Kitty.” John comforted. “It’s really cold.” After another beat he slid off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “There you go. Better?.” 

Kitty snuggled up inside the jacket, sinking so far down in it that only her eyes were visible with a satisfied sigh

“it’s warm.” She giggled, making the whole jacket shake. 

“Yeah, i would hope so.” John smiled and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “You look like the stay puffed marshmallow man” 

That made kitty laugh harder, which infected all the kids with giggles. While all the kids were laughing, Bobby locked eyes with John. 

“um, uh, doesn’t cold...do things to you?” He asked under his breath. 

John glanced at kitty and how she was flopping the oversized sleeves around to smack the other students, making more happy squeals come from them all. 

“I'm not worried about that right now.” John answered after a long second. Bobby hesitated, but nodded. 

“ ...okay”

A few minutes later, one of the youngest kids, about 6 years old, started complaining that he didn’t have a jacket and Kitty did. Soon, several more kids had joined in before John sighed and opened his arms like he was welcoming a hug. 

“ come here, guys.” He sighed, though a smile was spreading across his face. They all cheered and tackled John in a massive swarm of mutant kiddies. 

a set of twins, (the green haired boys that got out with them from Stryker) hopped up on his lap and two other students snuggled under each arm. All of them were much more content.

“You’re like a heater.” Jess grinned from across the fire pit. “Like a literal human space heater.” 

John shot her a glance and a similar smirk. “Thats the idea.” 

“Brilliant.” 

John himself was cold, like, really cold, even as he kept his temperature up to act as a human heater, he felt like each snowflake was stabbing at him with tiny knives. The kids around him helped, he felt their heat more than his own, but he couldn’t help but shiver every once in a while. 

Just a few minutes after he welcomed the kids, Jess scooted a bit closer to him. He didn’t think anything of it until she did it two more times. 

John gave her a weird look, to which Jess held up her arms in a dramatic shrug. 

“you’re warm, alright?” 

John raised an eyebrow. “Really.” 

“Yes really! I’m cold too!”

John’s skeptical expression didn’t waver “pfft, okay. Whatever you say.” 

“It’s true!” Jess insisted. John just rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah yeah, okay.......so what you’re saying is that you think I’m hot?”

John gave him a playful glare. “You’re unbelievable, you know that?” 

“So I’ve been told.” 

Pretty soon, the kids weren’t just cold, they were board and begging for something to do, whining and even a few began to cry and wish for the professor to come back with an inflatable house. (With unicorns, Lyra insisted, flapping her little feather wings with excitement at the prospect.)

Even with the kids *mildly* happy, Jess was starting to run out of patience, not just with them but everything: the cold, the absence of everyone and most of all herself for being for antsy. She drummed her fingers on her leg, itching for something to do just as much as the kids, but all around them was just the grey of soot and snow. Even the evergreen trees seemed stuck in a monochrome depression. 

Bobby did his best with the snow around him, making little snow balls that hopped around, but the kids lost interest with that after not too long. The snow was cold, and it meant they had to get away from John (and their heat source), so the idea was quickly abandoned. 

Another whining filled minute passed before John straightened all of a sudden and he got a stupid lopsided grin on his face as he pulled his hands out of his gloves. 

“Dude, what are you doing?” Jess asked as he resorted to using his teeth to yank off the second glove. 

“I might have an idea.” He mumbled through the cloth. “I've never really tried it before though.” 

“What are you talking about?”

John shot her a glance and took a deep breath as he wiggled his tingling fingers in the cold. He was worried about using his powers, exhausted as he was he was worried another explosion might trigger. He just had to trust Jess that of things did go south that she’d move them all in time. 

A moment passed and nothing happened. John urged his powers on, practically begging them to do what he asked. A second later, A tiny flame came to life in his hand, casting a warm shadow on the awe-filled faces of the kids. 

He squinted at the fire flickering around his palm as he guided the flames around. Eventually, it began to take shape, revealing a miniature fire cat that pranced around John’s hand

All the kids immediately gasped with excitement as the cat danced around John’s hand and meowed at them all. 

“It’s a kitty.” John explained with a smile and tapped kitty on the nose with his free hand. “Just like you.” 

Kitty gasped, her eyes blown wide was the cat reformed into a little dog and it barked excitedly at all the kids. All of them squealed happily. Kitty clapped her hands and almost jumped up and down. 

From across the fire pit, Jess smiled as she watched them and leaned over to Bobby. 

“he’s pretty good with kids, isn’t he.” She said as the children erupted into another fit of giggles as the dog became an elephant. 

Bobby glanced over at her. “Oh yeah. Especially Kitty. He's basically Kitty's older brother by this point.”

Jess nodded, not taking her eyes off John. “yeah...yeah he is.” 

John kept up the show with his powers and played around as much as he could with the kids. (He didn’t dare push his powers too far. He kept things small.) He couldn’t help his growing smile, their laughter was infectious. Even the snow didn’t seem to bother him as much. 

About an hour later, pushing them into the fifth hour since the mansion exploded, Jess got a phone call. It was hank. She immediately answered it. 

“hello? Hank, where have you-“

“Jess.” Hank’s tone held a warning, but she didn’t stop. 

“oh my gosh, hank! Where have you guys been?! we’ve been worried sick and we didn’t have anything to feed the kids for dinner, I-“ 

“Jess, stop, I need you to listen.” 

Jess froze and hopped up from where she was sitting to get a little space for the call. Bobby asked her where she was going, but she just shhed him. 

“Okay...okay, I’m listening.” 

Hank sighed on the other end of the line, making the connection warble. “we beat him, apocalypse, I mean, but...look, I’m not going to beat around the bush here...Peter’s hurt, badly. Apocalypse broke his leg like I’ve never seen before. We’re in a hospital in Cairo. He’s in surgery, but...it’s bad, Jess, I don’t know how long we will be, I’m thinking several weeks of recovery at least.”

Jess stopped dead a few feet away from the fire and just stood there with her mouth hanging open. After another moment she turned around to the others, trying and failing not  
To cry as she let the phone fall away from her ear. 

The fire butterfly in john’s hand frizzled out as soon as he locked eyes with her. “Jess, what's wrong!?”

“it’s-it’s Peter.” She whispered. 

“What happened”

“apocalypse-apocalypse broke his leg, Hank...he sounds worried, guys, like really worried.” She slumped back over to the fire and sat down with her head in her hands. “they say he’s in surgery, Peter’s in surgery, he’s never been in surgery before and-and it’s his leg, I-I don’t know, w-what to do...”

And then she broke down crying.  
...........................................................  
The doctor led them all down the hall, dodging around gurneys which lined the wall on the way. They left Erik behind, much to the metal bender’s distaste. Hank thought that their argument might come to blows, but Erik had backed down. Maybe the man had finally changed. Even so, Hank didn’t trust him. He’d have to work long and hard to earn that back. 

The hospital was small, albeit confusing in the chaos post-apocalypse, so it didn’t take long to reach the temporary room Peter was in. He wasn’t the only one, the whole place was lined with occupied beds, filled with the people unfortunate enough to get caught in the crosshairs of Apocalypse’s attempt at “world peace.”

Jean didn’t make it any further than the doorway. She, and Scott by extension, hung back in the hallway. The pain flooding from the room was too much for her. 

Hank led the way inside. it didn’t take him more than a second to spot a familiar head of hair across the room. 

“Peter.” Hank mumbled and sprinted over to him. 

Peter was flat on his back, gasping quietly in an attempt to force enough air into his lungs.  
One of the nurses was holding his hand, trying to calm him down, but it didn’t appear to be working. he was squeezing her hand so tight both of their knuckles were white. She glanced up at Hank with a pained expression and whispered. 

“He just woke up.” She said as he approached. “The first thing he asked for was someone named Jess.” 

“Yeah, she’s his sister...” Hank answered as he knelt down to be on Peter’s eye level. His eyes fluttered open when Hank touched his arm. His eyes were bloodshot and wide with pain as he tried to figure out what was happening. 

“Peter, hey,” Hank said and gave his arm a reassuring squeeze. “you’re gonna be alright.” 

“hank, my leg, I-I can’t move my leg, hank, please, where’s Jess-I-I need, I, please-“ Peter broke off, like he lost his train of thought. Hank cursed softly and gave his arm another squeeze. 

“what? What do you need?” 

“I-i...Jessy, I want my Jess. an’ my mum, I want-I want my mum.” 

Hank grimaced at the broken sound of his voice. The pain killers must have already worn off. He did his best to soothe the speedster. 

“okay, okay, we’re going to go home soon, I know it hurts, you’re taking it like a champ.” Hank grimaced again at having to leave him to make further preparations. He turned to the others with a determined nod. 

“let’s go home.”


	23. Character Q/A - Erik

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally it is done! Sorry it took so long! The next real chapter should be up soon, once again sorry it’s taking so long, work and school have been crazy and writer’s block hit me hard, so...yeah. Anyway, enjoy!

1\. On a scale of “is occasionally forced to bathe” to “Instagram model with sponsors to hoe for” how involved is your OC’s Skincare routine

Erik: “What? How is that relevant?” 

Erik is rather clean, her prides himself on his appearance, even if he doesn’t think he does. (I mean, just look at his armor, right?) 

2\. What are your OC’s food preferences (flavors/textures/spiciness/calories/ when and how they eat) and how did they get that way?

Erik: “I’ll eat what’s provided. There’s not enough food in the world to be ungrateful.” 

For the most part, what Erik said is true. He eats most anything he’s given...if he thinks it counts as food. He doesn’t like sweet things very much. Stuff like pizza, cake and all of that is “unnatural” to him. Oh, and he hates oatmeal. He had it too many times as a kid and can’t stand it anymore. 

3\. What’s something pointless/petty/unimportant that IRRATIONALLY ANNOYS THE HECK out of your OC?

Erik: “this question.” 

Oh doesn’t everything....yeah, Erik has a short temper, but *really* weird things that annoy him are mainly mispronouncing anything in a language other than English. It drives him nuts. 

4\. What’s your OC’s response to being asked for money by a homeless person?

Erik: * levitates some coins out of the nearest person’s pocket* 

5\. Does your OC get lost easily? What do they do when they do get lost?

Erik: “I know my away around. I’ll even ask for directions.” 

He has a good sense of direction, kind of average, actually. As long as he has a map, he’s fine. 

6\. What would STOP your OC from Doing The Right Thing in a tense situation?

Erik: “bold of you to assume I’m not doing the right thing.” 

Well...it doesn’t take much. Once again he has a temper. However, most of the time he’s doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. He wants peace, they only way he thinks he can get that is by getting rid of humans, therefore: he tries to get rid of humans. If you want to make him really pissed though, target his family ;)

7\. Realistically, could your OC (in their normal circumstances- i.e. at thier own house/battlecamp/spaceship etc.) keep a small child alive for a week if they had to? A Dog? A Houseplant? A rock with a smiley face painted on?

Erik: “I’d like to think I can take care of them all. It is just a child.” 

Erik would do well! His dad instinct is strong and fiercely protective. If you put a rock in his care, he would automatically kill for that rock if someone threatened it. It is *his* responsibility and he *must* take care of it. 

8\. If your OC had to take the S.A.T. tomorrow with one night to prep, how would they do? both emotionally and academically.

Erik: “why would I have to take it? I graduated years ago. You need better questions.” 

I mean, he’s right, but whatever. Erik would do well. Very well. He knows a little about a lot and it gives him the edge in situations like that. 

9\. What would cause your OC to chose to do something petty/pointlessly cruel?

Erik: *is silent* 

Oh. Oh. Oh. Eriiiiiiiik, why with your temper! If you cross him (unless you’re family): you’re dead. If you hurt mutants: you’re dead and probably tortured along the way. So yeah...he’s not the most companionate person. 

10\. On a scale of “Complete and Justified nervous breakdown” to “Conquer The Entire Galaxy and become an Immortal God-Emperor”, how well would your OC handle being abducted by Aliens?

Erik: “i already have one world to deal with. I don’t need a galaxy.” 

Bro, Erik would rule and he would rule...well? I don’t know if I can say he’d do a good job. He may be a bit cruel, but as long as the aliens don’t put right defy him, everything will be fine. 

11\. What song is 100% garunteed to get your OC beyond turnt and will be sung loudly and emabarrasingly, either in public or the shower?

Erik: “..........We Didn’t Start the Fire...” 

Yeeeeeep, for some reason I can see him loving this. He doesn’t really dance, but he would enjoy it. He normally listens to classical music. 

12\. What perfectly-normal-to-them-thing does your OC do that confuses/annoys/terrifies thier neighbors?

Erik: “everyone thinks I’m terrifying, and rightly so.” *shark-grin* 

Hmm, well I mean floating around in purple armor will do it.....but in general I guess cursing in different languages, just randomly. That can weird people out. 

13\. Would your OC lie to get out of Trouble? 

Erik: “I’d lie when it’s important.” 

Yeah, yeah he would...

14\. What thing did your OC’s parents do that your OC wishes they had a better explanation for?

Erik: “I wish I knew more of what was going on. They always kept things from me and it led to their deaths...” 

Basically exactly what he said UwU 

15\. How often does your OC “zone out” or do things on autopilot and how severe have the problems that have arisen from that been?

Erik: “I keep an eye on things. It’s dangerous to lose track of your surroundings.” 

Yeah, he basically said as much. Erik tries very hard to not zone out. He keeps tabs on who could be dangerous in a certain situation, any and all exits, weapons near by, and most of all: metal. 

16\. How strong or weak is your OC’s Impulse control? What’s the worst thing that happened becuase of thier Impulsivity or inability to be so?

Erik: “the worst thing that has happened to me because of my lack of control is leaving Magda.” 

Yeaaaah, let’s just say we know where Peter gets his lack of impulse control...

17\. How does your OC sabotage themselves? 

Erik: “all the things I’ve done. The guilt from those things, all the killings, I carry it with me every day.” 

Erik carries guilt and grudges for longer than literally anything else. Yes, he thinks that killing is necessary sometimes, but he doesn’t like doing it unless the people are total douches. Anyway, besides that he’ll go to extreme lengths to seek revenge. 

18\. What’s the trashiest item in your OC’s wardrobe, when was the last time they wore it and why do they still have it?

Erik: *raises eyebrow* 

I honestly don’t know, bro. I’ve never thought of him as having a bunch of trashy stuff, but I could be wrong...

19\. How Dehydrated is your OC right now? Are they going to fix this?

Erik: “I’m not that much of a barbarian. I drink water often, thank you.” 

Yeah, Erik says hydrated most of the time. He watches what and when he eats. 

20\. What’s your OC smell like? no, not that “Vanilla and Anxiety” evocative stuff, realistically. Body odor? what have they been touching all day? When was thier last shower? Did they put on any kind of artificial scent?

Erik: “I-...what?” 

Poor Erik, he doesn’t understand these questions. Erik usually smells like his shampoo, he showers daily, if not twice a day. On bad days he thinks that if he takes a hot enough shower it will burn his feelings away. After using his powers a lot, Erik can have that general tang of iron smell about him. 

And that’s that folks! If you have any questions for me or the characters let me know, I’m happy to answer anything!


	24. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The x men finally get home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain: *out of breath* boom, A master piece, I can never write anything better. 
> 
> Me: *sigh* that’s 200 words of pure garbage. It makes no sense. 
> 
> ......so...yeah that’s how this chapter went, pretty much. It’s also a filler chapter, kind of, I needed everyone back at the mansion, so... yeah. Anyway, the next one will be more exciting, and should be out within a week if all goes well. I’m also working on two other projects outside of fanfiction which are just flowing better for me right now. I hope you enjoy this regardless. Love all the comments, as always! (I did not proof read this one either. That’s how much I hate it)

A few hours later, the x men were on their way back to the mansion. Someone was always at Peter’s side, holding his hand and letting him squeeze it when the pain spiked. Jean didn’t take a shift, when she tried she broke down crying. Erik hung back from the speedster and exchanged a few words with Charles. all in all, the professor was alright, but the grimace set on his face let Erik guess that some of Peter’s pain was filtering through. 

The plane landed on the mansion grounds, just close enough that Hank could make out the kids calling out. 

“They’re back!” A few of them called and pointed at the descending plane. Everyone on the ground shielded their eyes as it landed with a soft thud. The students charged towards the opening bay doors, John, Bobby, and Jess in front.

Hank mopped a hand across his face. From the looks of it, Jess was crying, or had been crying. He hated to have to deal with that on top of everything else. Maybe he could push her off onto one of the others to get her calmed down. And he needed to call their mother and-

Hank took a breath as the plane’s cargo door opened. He needed to calm down or he wouldn’t get anything done. He needed a med bay, like a functioning lab and not the pile of rubble that the mansion was. Peter was returning to a semi-normal level of consciousness, which meant he needed to get everything prepared that he might need and-

Take a breath. Hank reminded himself. Everything will be fine. 

Before the bay door had fully settled in the snow, Jess was already on board and trying to push past her teammates as they struggled to navigate the small space. 

“Let me through!” She yelled, only to get blocked by storm. 

“I don’t think that’s the best idea.” She tried. “Hank needs to get him ready to move and there’s not a lot of room.” 

“I don’t care!” Jess yelled and put on a burst of speed. 

“Jess, wait!!!” Jean’s hand shot out towards her but she was already gone. Jess zipped fully into the jet and nearly fell over the raised stretcher peter was laid on. The tears that had welled on her eyes fell freely when she saw her brother, pale, sweating, and bruised on the stretcher. 

His eyes were squeezed shut, his silver hair exaggerating the sickly green tint his skin had taken and highlighting the dark row of bruises near his hairline. Jess’s eyes landed on his right leg, it was heavily swollen, and still slightly crooked. 

“Oh my gosh.” Her voice was barely audible, but it was enough to get Peter’s eyes to flutter open. 

“Jess?” He squinted up at her, but was too afraid that any movement other than that would shoot the red-hot burning pain up and down his leg. 

“Yeah...oh, Peter, what did you do?!?!?!” He winced at her tone, or was it from the pain? Neither one of them could tell. 

“I-I...I’m tired Jess... I’ll explain later.” That worried her more than anything else. His voice was sluggish, like he was drunk, or high on painkillers. 

“Okay, That’s fine....” their conversation trailed off as Peter closed his eyes again, fighting another bout of nausea that had plagued him since Cairo. Jess looked up at the sound of footsteps. Erik Lensherr appeared from the cock pit. 

“Come on.” He grunted. His voice was gruff, he sounded tired too. “Charles says we need to rebuild enough of the mansion to function as a medical bay.” 

Jess nodded blankly and stood up to follow Erik, casting a look towards peter again before stepping outside.   
...............................  
When Erik stepped into the hanger, his heart skipped a beat. Besides Peter, still laying on the stretcher, Jessica stood above her brother. She glanced up at him, tears In her eyes and it nearly broke his heart. 

He cleared his throat slightly, preparing to spill his story to her, but remembered what Hank had said and he reconsidered. 

“Come on.” He said, unable to keep the emotion out of his voice. “Charles says we need to rebuild enough of the mansion to function as a medical bay.” 

His daughter nodded and stood up with a final glance to Peter. (Gosh, she really had no idea who Erik really was) she took his excuse without hesitation, even though the metal bender knew very well that Charles has told him nothing of the sort. 

The next few hours went by in a blur. The sun went down shortly after they landed at the mansion, leaving them only with fire light to work by until Jean (with help from some of the other students) put some lights together. By 9:00, the frame of the house was up and the lab was almost completely plated. (Charles made Erik to promise to pay back the metal he stole to repair everything) 

At last, Hank transferred Peter into a makeshift medbay as the mansion was constructed around them. Peter refused to let go of Jess’ hand the whole time. She was sure she’d have bruises, but she didn’t really care. Peter needed her. After ANOTHER few long hours, the Mansion was livable, the kids were brought inside and immediately sent to bed (aka sleeping bags), Charles was asleep in his room, and peter finally fell into a fevered sleep. 

Then it was time to explain to the others just how bad things were... John, Jess, and Bobby, for the most part, resolved themselves to ask questions later in favor of repairs, but after the team settled into the medbay, the dam holding back their questions broke. 

“Alright Hank.” Jess sighed. “Just get it over with.” 

Hank explained reluctantly to Jess, John, and Bobby, what all had broken in Peter’s leg. Jess started crying almost right away and began pacing as the list went on and on. Erik didn’t take her eyes off her, even once Hank stopped talking. At least the doctor allowed him inside now, but the requirement was that he didn’t speak to anyone but Raven or Hank himself. 

After a pregnant pause, Jess broke the silence. 

“...he can’t run.”

Hank sighed. “not for three months, no, but a normal person would have to-“ 

“I don’t care!” She shouted, and stomped her foot. “We aren’t normal!! He’s not normal!!” 

Then in a flash of silver she was gone.


	25. Damaged but alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A whole lot of fluff and comfort (and just a bit of hurt)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’s up my dudes. I got this chapter done early, so I’m going to go ahead and post it. The questions for Jess will be in a separate work soon, so look out for that :) enjoy’

Ten minutes later Jess still hadn’t come back and it was getting dark fast. John, Bobby and storm went to go look for her. 

John wandered outside and didn’t see anything. He stood on the half completed steps for a moment and just watched the snow fall. All this and he caused it. Not the most happy thought to have a few days from Christmas, but he couldn’t stop himself. 

He shivered and was about to go back inside when a flash of silver and a burst of flame came from the track. John whipped towards it and saw a line of fire leap up around the track, lapping at Jess’s ankles as she skidded to a stop. Her shoes were on fire and the flames were jumping dangerously close to her leggings. Jess screamed and tried to stomp the fire out but it wouldn’t work. 

Not even thinking, John reached out and called for the fire. It came rushing at him and he caught it, forcing in into a consented ball. It knocked the breath out of him it came at him so fast. Fire that wasn’t his own was always harder to control, it was fighting him like a wild horse, but John managed to absorb it.

He sighed a puff of smoke as he finally got the last of the flames under control and coughed slightly, but that was the least of his problems. He looked up grinning, expecting some sort of thank you, but was met with the sight of Jess collapsing into tears instead. 

He ran over to her to make sure she was alright, she looked un-burnt, but he guessed most of the damage was deeper than physical. 

“Jess, Jess are you alright? Are you burnt?” He asked as he picked his way across the snow. Jess shook her head and kept crying. 

“it’s-it’s Peter, his leg, he can’t-can’t run.” She sniffed. “It’s going to be miserable for everyone.” 

John didn’t really know what to do. His friend was sitting there crying in front of him and he felt kind of useless. Sure, he had kept her from burning to a crisp, but a girl crying was way too much for him. He gave it his best shot anyway. 

“Look...I don’t really know what to say; I’m not the best with emotional stuff, but it’s going to be alright, it’ll be alright.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, I’m sure of it.” 

Jess nodded, but she was still crying. Though the tears didn’t last long, she ran out of energy after a minute or two and fell into John to lean on his shoulder as she tried to compose herself. John stiffened initially. he eventfully relaxed slightly, but was far from *comfortable*

A second later, Jess broke the silence with a sniff as she spoke. “Thanks...thanks for just being a good friend, John.” 

He was taken aback, but somehow managed to force some words out. “Oh...yeah...of course.” 

Jess nodded and sighed contentedly. After another second she whispered. “you’re warm” 

John looked down at her, her face was barely visible under the jacket she had pulled up to her ears. He couldnt help but chuckle a bit as she looked up at him with puppy-like eyes. 

“What’s so funny?” She asked and pulled a face. 

“Well, you said I’m warm.” John managed between laughs. “That's kind of expected when you absorb fire.” 

Jess laughed a little and shrugged, only sinking deeper into her coat. “yeah, I guess so.” 

They sat on the track for another couple minutes before John pushed himself to his feet and offered Jess a hand. 

“I’m sorry, but it’s too cool.” He said as he helped her up. “And Peter needs you.” 

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Jess answered with a little shiver. They headed back inside, at least some heater somewhere was working, because it was like stepping into the tropics when they crossed the threshold. It made them both flush as the blood rushed to their faces. John walked with Jess to the medbay and right before she went in she turned to him with a small, tired grin. 

“you know how you said your powers destroy everything?” 

John stood there for several seconds before he realized he had to answer. “...you heard me yelling at Peter about that?” He asked hesitantly. 

“no, he told me about it.” 

“Oh....well yeah. I’m fire. Fire is destruction. Therefore-“

“no, no you’re not.” She interrupted firmly. “You just saved my life. Fire is a lot more than destruction, you know.” With that, Jess gave him another smile and closed the door to the medbay. The last thing John heard was a whisper mumbling “Jess”. Peter must be awake.  
———————————————- Jess made her way over to the bed and sat down, reaching once again for Peter’s hand. She hated seeing him like this; flat on his back like some kind of terminal patient. She had to remind herself that this was temporary, in a few days he’d be on crutches and hobbling around. 

“hey...” Peter mumbled as Jess sat down. She gave him the same tired smile she gave John. 

“Hey, sleepyhead...how are you feeling?” 

“not...not that great.” He said and swallowed hard. Jess didn’t doubt it, but hearing it out loud still made her cringe. Peter grimaced as he tried to shift positions. Jess pushed him right back down on to the mattress. 

“I know it’s hard, but you have to stop moving.” She told him. Peter was too tired to manage a grin, he just stared up at her. Utterly Exhausted. 

Jess sighed and leaned back in her chair as peter drifted back out of full consciousness. It was like he was stuck in a limbo between sleep and awareness. It was even harder to watch than him fully awake. 

Jess took a shaky breath and had to remind herself that she had gotten off lucky. At least Peter had lived. It could have been so much worse. It should have made her feel better, but watching Peter flinch, unaware of the world as his body tried to make sense of what happened to him, still made her miserable. 

Jess lost track of time sitting at Peter’s bedside. It must have been a few hours when someone besides Hank came in. She was almost asleep when the door crept open and the rest of the team shuffled in. They filled in the empty chairs around the room. Bobby opted for laying in the floor instead. There was so to discuss, so much to untangle from the day’s events, but no one really had the energy to talk. They all sat in silence as Hank worked, just enjoying the fact that they were alive. Damaged, but alive.  
...........................................................  
the only sound in the med bay for a long time was Peter’s pained moans and the occasional higher pitched squeak. He was still pretty out of it. Every once in a while he would startle awake, but Jess shhed him and he drifted off into his distant limbo once again. 

However, after several loops of him waking and drifting came and went, One of Peter’s groans, louder than most trailed off but didn’t seem to end. After a minute, Bobby looked up at the speedster and then around at everyone else as if they heard they same thing he did. 

“Is..is he....singing?” He asked. Everyone shrugged, but Jess leaned down closer to peter, very careful not to bump the bed. When she straightened, A smile spread across her face, but it mixed with some other emotion no one can place. 

“Yeah, he’s singing.” She said, almost bitterly. Everyone grew even more silent. The sound of Peter’s not-so-blissful unawareness of what’s happening around him continued. The words of the song carried around the room, only interrupted by the buzz of the florescent lights about them. 

“ Este posibil.....să nu găsiți aur ...sau argint.” The words came between quick gasps, slurred and barely strung together, but yet a steady tune carried across the room. “Dar un premiu mai bogat....  
Te așteaptă în spatele ploilor  
Dacă închizi...ochii.” 

“That’s just gibberish, should we get hank?” Scott asked with a concerned look towards Peter and started to stand up. Jess sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Sometimes she forgot that the team didn’t know much about this side of her and Peter. It was their thing, but if they were going to be a good team, it was only right to share. 

“It’s not gibberish.” Jess sighed as she glanced up from peter to look Scott in the eye. “It’s Romanian.” 

“Why is Peter singing in Romanian?” John asked. Jess looked back to Peter (ever mumbling the song) before she answered. 

“...It’s a lullaby our mum sung to us when we were sick or sad. Or hurt.” She said. “Her father taught it to her when she was little.” Silence returned long enough for Peter’s voice to carry again. Jess waited for him to finish the verse before joining in, translating as she went along.

“And years from now when you go dreaming  
When you're very old  
Though your crown be rich with rubies  
Diamonds set in gold  
Then we'll shine as bright  
As the star we'll find  
Tonight  
Tonight, tonight  
When all the world's asleep  
We will find a star  
That you can always keep.” Jess sang along with Peter’s fevered Romanian, pausing when he did so she didn’t get too far ahead. 

“Și ani de acum înainte.....când visezi  
Când ești foarte bătrân  
Deși coroana ta este bogată....cu rubine  
Diamante..... setate în aur  
Apoi vom străluci la fel de luminos  
Ca vedetă o vom găsi  
Astă seară..........  
La noapte  
Când toată lumea adormi  
Vom găsi o stea  
Că poți..... păstra mereu” Peter sang the counter part, still too out of it to be aware she was singing with him. He kept mummering, but Jess paused.

“ That’s the end of the song, he’s just singing it over and over.” She hummed the first verse and translated what they hadn’t heard. 

“Loo, loo, loo, I'll take you dreaming  
Through the rainy night  
To a place behind the raindrops  
Where the stars are bright  
You may not find gold or silver  
But a richer prize  
Waits for you behind the raindrops  
If you close your eyes  
Tonight, tonight  
When all the world's asleep  
We will tiptoe home with a wonderous star  
A star you can always keep.”

Jess let herself fade out again and sat watching Peter with a smile. Their voices sounded good together, even though Peter’s was tainted with pain. Sometimes Jess missed the days when they were learning lullabies and didn’t have to worry about the world outside of their neighborhood. But then again, somehow she couldn’t see herself giving up their place at the mansion for anything. 

“That’s beautiful.” Jean said and pulled Jess from her thoughts. 

“Yeah, It’s our favorite one.” Jess said with a glance in the telepath’s direction. 

“You know more Romanian songs?” John asked. 

Jess looked up, a bit surprised., before he laughed and nodded. “Yeah, yeah, Peter and I are fluent, of course we know more songs.” She answered as she leaned back in her chair with a amused sigh. The silence returned, this time it was shocked. She gave them all a look. “What, Didn’t think we had the patience to learn another language?” 

“It’s not that,” Bobby rushed you explain. “its just, we had no idea.”

Jess shrugged. “It’s sort of a family thing...we don’t throw the information around. It’s special somehow.” 

Everyone was quiet again, processing the new information. It took a second for everyone to realize peter had stopped singing. Jess leaned carefully over him before looking up at everyone else with a growing smile. 

“...he’s asleep. *Actually* asleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song I used I learned from the court jester, I’m sure it shows up other places, but that’s where I got it from. And sorry if the translation is bad, I had to use google translate...


	26. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Peter has his *first* encounter with nightmares on his long journey of recovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeeeeyyy. Sup peoples. This one is a pretty interesting chapter. Let me know your thoughts.

Peter opened his eyes and took the first full breath in what felt like years. He couldn’t help a smile. Everything felt fine. Everything *was* fine. No pain, no troubles. Just peace. 

He took a moment to look around, everything was white. As far as he could see it was just a void. Something felt different...then it hit him. The pain in his leg was gone. He smiled ear to ear and looked down at his right leg. His heart skipped a beat. There wasn’t a leg to look down at, it was just empty space where his leg should be. 

“Foolish child.” The ancient voice sounded as though it was coming from inside his head. Panic rose in Peter and his hands flew up to his ears to block out the mocking voice. It didn’t work very well. The laugh of apocalypse rang in Peter’s head like a gong. It made his head feel like it was going to split open. Peter muttered to himself, trying to stop panicking, but his breathing sped up of its own accord until he couldn’t even draw a full breath. 

Peter glanced around through the tears that had welled in his eyes. There was only blinding whiteness that made him wince. He wished Jess was there, he wished *anyone* was there. 

Peter instantly regretted his wish. When he turned forward again, he was face to face with Apocalypse.   
Peter tried to run, he really did. He put every short breath that came into running but he couldn’t. He tried to move his right leg but there was none to move. Apocalypse reached the boy, now towering five feet above Peter. 

“No. No, don’t touch me.” Peter whispered and shrank back as far as he could. He wished with every ounce of his being that he could take a step, he willed himself to hop, but that didn’t work either.

Sand snaked up his left leg. Peter’s eyes widened, he felt tears burn his eyes as he looked back to the looming apocalypse above him. 

“Why don’t you run, boy.” The voice bored into Peter’s ears like drills made of broken glass. Apocalypse mocked him and laughed. “Why don’t you RUN!” 

“I-I cant. I can’t r-run. I cant.” Peter’s breath came in shorter gasps. “I can’t, my-my leg. I CANT!” The mocking laugher rang around the entire space. Peter had never felt more helpless, even with the searing pain gone the lack of his leg was more unsettling. Unsettling was an understatement, freaking, paralyzing fear was much more accurate. 

Apocalypse reached for him. 

“No! Don’t. I can’t-I can’t-cant.” 

“Peter!!” Apocalypse boomed. How did he know his name, he never told him. In Cairo, he’d never bothered to learn Peter’s name. “Peter!!” He yelled again and reached for The speedster. 

“NO!!!” Peter shouted, but it turned into a sort of sob. His eyes shot open. in apocalypse’s place was Jess, wide eyed and red faced, hair a tangled mess like a grey mop on top of her head. Behind her stood hank, tints of blue showing by his hairlines. 

“I c-cant.” Peter whispered. The familiar, but grounding, burning-throb flooded Peter’s right leg. With a gasping breath he looked down at his leg. The white cast that swallowed it brought him halfway back to reality. With a pained sigh he rested his aching head on the hollow of jess’s shoulder.

“It’s alright, you’re gonna be okay, I promise.” She whispered and rubbed his back. Peter should have known that. *its just a dream* he tried to tell himself, but it was like his body wasn’t listening. He tried to tell her that, but his voice wasn’t listening to him either.

“No-no, Icanticanti-icant, he-he just-“ Peter sobbed into her shoulder, barely able to force words out of his mouth. 

“You’re back at the mansion, Peter, he’s dead and you’re going to heal.” She felt him shiver and sigh into her shirt. Jess glanced at hank. “What do I do?” She mouthed. 

“Get him back to sleep.” Hank said with a shrug. Peter’s stomach twisted at the thought of dreaming again. He couldn’t do it. He *couldnt*.

“No, no, I don’t wanna sleep.” Peter gasped as he looked up at hank, tears dripping down his face and still holding onto Jess for dear life. 

“You need sleep, Peter.” Hank sighed. “You need the energy so your leg can heal.” 

“I can’t-cant go back there.” He shuddered again. “Jess can stay with me.” He let his head sink back onto her shoulder and took a shaky, rasping breath. He felt Jess shift below him, but couldn’t bring himself to look up. 

“See if you can get him to rest, I’ll be next door.” The doctor said above them as he nodded down at the siblings. Jess nodded and resumed rubbing Peter’s back. 

“Do you wanna talk ab-“

“N-no-no.” Peter stuttered. “Maybe tomorrow. Not-not right now.” He couldn’t do that either. He felt so *useless.* he couldn’t even talk about a stupid dream. It wasn’t like it was real, it....it was-

“Okay. Whenever you’re ready.” Jess whispered in his ear. Peter sighed, but nodded, his skull hitting jess’s collarbone. She tried her best not to flinch and started humming. Peter closed his eyes and focused on the tune, he even hummed along at times. He snuggled into Jess’ shoulder a bit more, just relishing the fact he was safe. 

Peter slipped back asleep around 4:30 am. Needless to say, Jess stayed the night in the med lab.   
————————————————-  
Hank came into to check on the two around 6:30 am. Jess sent him death glares from across the room. She hadn’t slept a wink, each time Peter shifted in his sleep, she snapped awake to check on him. As a result, she was quite cranky. 

“He’s actually sleeping! Go away!” She hissed from her position next to her brother. Hank raised an eyebrow, but Jess’ glare didn’t fade. 

“I need to take his vitals, he needs to wake up, I’m sorry.” He whispered back after a second and walked over to the blood pressure machine. “You can wake him or I can, your choice.” 

Jess sighed and looked down at Peter. He needed this rest, he looked awful, but she knew she should yield to Hank. Still, it felt wrong. Like betraying him. 

Jess grimaced, but tapped his shoulder. No response. “Peter,” She whispered and nudged him as gently as she could. “Peter wake-“ 

Peter gasped and sat bolt up right. he looked at Jess with wide eyes. Jess prepared herself to hold him down, but he relaxed before it came to that. 

“Right. At the mansion.” He mumbled and took a few deep breaths to steady himself. 

“Yeah, Hank wants to look at your leg.” 

Peter paled but nodded. “Okay...hank?”

“What is it, Peter?” Hank asked as he busied himself with getting the supplies he needs. Jess shot him a glance. Something was bothering Peter more than just pain. He twisted his hands in the sheets, over and over again. She knew what that meant. He needed to tell them something and he far from happy about it. 

“You...you aren’t gonna cut it off, are you?” Peter asked after a pregnant pause and closed his eyes. “I know it’s stupid but-“

“Cut what off?......” Hank asked and then a second later said: “you don’t actually think I’ll cut your leg off do you??” 

Peter didn’t meet their eyes, but stared at the sheets he toyed with. “I-not exactly...it’s what the dream was about...sort of.” He mumbled and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. “I know it’s stupid I just need to hear you say it.” 

“I’m not going to amputate your leg.” Hank patted Peter on the shoulder. “I promise.”

Peter smiled weakly and let Jess push him back so he was laying down.   
“Thanks, Hank.”


	27. Good morning Draga

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new visitor!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup, enjoy!

When Peter woke again, it was nearing noon. The light in the med bay, was brighter, but more natural, when he opened his eyes. Peter groaned as his eyes struggled to focus. 

When the blurry shapes of the room came into focus, he managed a sleepy smile. 

“Good morning, dragă.” His mother said from his bedside. She squeezed his hand gently and gave him a smile. 

“Hey mum.” Peter whispered and closed his eyes again, tempted to drift back off to sleep. Everything was hazy, like he was in a dream. Maybe it was just because he hadn’t woken up screaming, but he didn’t have enough energy to care. 

A hand carded through his hair. He knew instantly it was his mother’s. Her head scratches were the best. It hurt a little when she passed over the bruises on his hair line, but not enough to get her to stop. 

“How did you sleep, dragă?”

“Mmmm.” 

Magda chuckled and sighed. “You were asleep for a while, I’m glad you got some rest.” 

“Me too...” Peter mumbled into his pillow, feeling ever more distant from being awake. His thoughts buzzed around him like flies that he struggled to catch. He was slower than usual, like walking through mud, but somehow it was nice. 

Peter let himself drift, further and further until his mother’s words became a hum in the back of his mind. The presence of her hand in his hair faded to a constant feeling. 

All was fine. 

His leg hurt, but it was alright. 

It was alright...

Until it wasn’t. 

The hand in his hair turned into a fist and *pulled.* Peter tried to swat it away get it to leave him alone, but his arms wouldn’t move. Everything was dark. And *he* was there. Peter could feel him laughing at him. He wanted to scream, and cry at the same time, but most of all he just wanted the hand to go away and the darkness to leave with it. 

In the next second, his eyes snapped open and a scream pulled from his throat as he sat straight up. The hand in his hair was gone, replaced by one resting in his cheek. 

“Peter?” Magda was asking. “Peter, are you okay? You were screaming.” 

Peter ran a hand through his own hair, trying to shake the feeling of apocalypse touching him. Magda watched him with wide eyes as he struggled to catch his breath. 

“Yeah, yeah...I’m-I-I-“ Peter faltered. Then broke down in tears, balling his fists in his hair. “No, I’m n-not okay.” He managed between sobs. “I-I can’t, I just want to sleep for one MINUTE without SCREAMING!!” 

“Oh dragă.” Magda sighed, seemingly unbothered by his outburst. “You want to get it down quickly, just like you do everything, but-“ she paused to make sure he was looking at her. “-Healing isn’t going to be fast. It’s going to take time and that’s just something you’ll have to accept.” 

That, of course, made Peter cry even more. He knew she was right. She was always right. But that idea of his mental and physical state being completely out of his control was terrifying. 

“I want it to go away.” Peter whispered once he got his voice under control. “I just want the pain to go away for a second. Just a second.” 

“... dragă, you can make a second last for forever.” 

Peter glanced up at her. “Yeah...I-I know.” 

Magda sighed and pulled Peter into a hug. He tensed at first at the contact, but tried his best to relax. She pulled him a little too far and he winced. 

“...thanks mum.” 

“Of course, that’s what I’m here for.” Magda said. After a bit, Peter’s breathing returned to normal, synced up with his mother’s as they sat there together. 

Eventually, magda spoke again. “...what do you want for Christmas?” 

“Hmm, What?” Peter asked sleepily. 

“What do you want for Christmas? It’s less than two weeks away.” 

Peter blinked up at her and shrugged with a wince. “I don’t know...I want my leg to stop hurting.” 

“I wish I could help you there.” She said. “But I can’t wave a magic wand and make it better. What do you want for Christmas?” 

Peter shrugged again, steadily losing the willpower to keep his mind focused on anything. “I don’t know...” he mumbled. “Surprise me.”  
————————————————-  
Erik was wandering through the newly finished halls of the mansion, as he had been for several hours. Of course, there was guilt from joining apocalypse, but that was in the background. He hadn’t figured out how to break the news to Peter, and now Jessica, that he was their father. 

Unfortunately, Magda had arrived that morning and kept the med bay locked down. She hadn’t directly told him that, he hadn’t even seen her, but somehow he didn’t expect a warm welcome. 

So Erik was pacing. Up and down the hallway. Since 10:00 that morning. His main tactic was to wait for an opening, aka when Magda needed a break, but that could take all afternoon. But it was worth it. Erik could wait it out. 

Something brushed past him, it must have been just a draft because there was nothing there with Erik turned. So he resumed his pacing, this time with a slight frown. 

A minute or so later, the door to the med bay opened and closed. Erik’s head shot and he came face-to-face with Magda. She Stared at him in shock for a moment before cursing in Romanian. Erik raised his eyebrows at that. Magda never cursed, but maybe he should have expected that. 

“Erik.” She sighed and mopped a hand across her face. “What are you doing here?” 

“...Charles invited me to stay.” 

“What are you doing outside the infirmary?” 

“You know why I’m here.” 

Magda gave him a look and laughed a little, but there was no humor in it: “For Peter” 

“And Jessica.” 

“Figures.” Magda sighed again and crossed her arms. “You show up after I’ve done all the hard work of raising them, keeping them safe, and you just show up.” 

Erik winced. He knew she was right. In the end, she was always right. “You have every right to be mad, Magda.” 

“Yeah, yeah I do!” She snapped, getting louder now. “You left me with our children! *your* children!” 

“I know, I want to make it right.” Erik explained. “I want to tell them who I am, I want to be here for them”.

Magda scoffed and shook her head. “You don’t understand, Erik.” She said. “You can tell them, beg them to take you back, and nothing will change. It might for a few weeks, but they’ve filled the hole you left in their life. They aren’t going to cut out what they’ve made for themselves because you came crawling back to them.” 

Erik felt his anger rising, but he did his best to keep a lid on it. Still, Magda, for once, wasn’t right about this. 

“...you don’t know that.” He hissed. Magda looked him straight in the eye. 

“Yes I do.” She said calmly. “Because I actually know our children. Unlike you.” With that she turned on her heel and marched off. Before she turned down the stairs, she called back to him. 

“You can tell them, Jess is in there with him now. Alone.” She said, now with a sad smile. “But don’t get your hopes up, Erik.”


	28. Leaking secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erik hates himself and Peter leaks the secret

Erik sighed and kept pacing. He’d gone through different tactics for how to break the news millions of times, but now that he was faced with the real possibility of putting one of them into action, they didn’t seem good enough. 

Still, it was too much to pass up such a chance. He had magda’s blessing in a twisted sort of way. That should have been enough for him, but...

Erik took a breath and shook his head. It was too late to back out now. He wasn’t a coward. He could do this. 

The metal bender willed the door to open without creaking. Sure enough, it slid open silently and allowed Erik to have a moment to watch his children before they noticed him. 

They both sat on Peter’s bed, playing a game of go-fish. Peter looked tired, barely into the game. Jess was distracted, but yet they both played and didn’t say a thing. Maybe it was because Peter was in pain, but it didn’t matter to Erik. His heart turned a backflip watching them. He was mildly concerned that they would hear how fast it was beating, but of course that was foolish. 

He took another breath, about to announce his arrival, when Peter looked up and locked gazes with him. 

He dropped his cards. “magneto??”

Erik winced. “call me Erik, please.” He said, still not moving from the doorway. 

Erik could’ve sworn he saw a frown pass across Peter’s face, but it could have just been from pain. 

“Okay...” Peter continued and started fiddling with the sheets. “what are you doing here?” 

“I came to see you, And-“ Erik took a step forward and froze. His stomach seemed to drop out as he sensed a chunk of metal from Peter. No. *in* Peter. 

Both speedsters eyed him with concern. “what?” They asked in unison. 

Erik blinked slowly, struggling to regain his composure. “there’s...metal.” 

“huh?” 

“metal pins, and plates, drilled to the bone.” 

That was a mistake. A big mistake. Peter went green immediately. Jess was up and had gotten him a trash can before Erik could blink. Erik only had a second to guess what the trash can was for before Peter threw up. 

Jess was on her feet now, marching towards Erik with a murderous glare. “what the heck man!?” She demanded. She had to yell up at him because of the height difference, but didn’t care. “Why did you think that was a good idea to tell him that?”

“I-I’m Sorry.” Erik stuttered and took a step back. “I shouldn’t have come. I’ll just left you. I’m sorry.” 

He turned to leave and was almost to the door when Peter called him. 

“wait, wait!” 

Both Erik and Jess looked at him with surprise. “why?”

Peter faltered and shrugged. “I-it’s okay...I just don’t want you to feel bad....

Erik sighed “I take this upon myself, I’m sorry I should have realized that wasn’t a good thing to say.” 

Peter waved a hand in dismissal and tried to regain some of his dignity, but he was visibly shaking and *very* pale. 

“no-no, I’m as sensitive as...I don’t know, s-something really sensitive.” He Said with a shrug and flashed Erik is trademark grin, albeit a weak one. 

Erik sighed again and walked back over to the bed. Jess glared at him the whole time. 

“I owe you all an apology for what happened...”Erik said. “I know it doesn’t make up for it, but...I’m sorry. You don’t have to forgive me.” 

Erik didn’t know exactly what the was apologizing for. Everything? Anything? He just wanted Peter to know he was sorry. The speedster glanced at him and nodded, as if he knew exactly what Erik meant. 

“I forgive you.” Peter said. “It’s not your fault.” 

“heck yes it is!” Jess hissed from a few feet away. She and Peter exchanged a look that Erik didn’t understand. With a sigh he pushed himself to his feet and started for the door. 

“I’m clearly not wanted here.” He said with a glance towards Jess. “get some rest, Peter.” 

With that he left and pulled the door closed behind him. He sighed once out of earshot and cursed himself. He’d chickened out. But maybe it wasn’t the best time. He’d ruined the mood with the line about the metal. Still, he felt like a fool. He was a fool. 

Erik cursed himself again and trudged off towards the exit. He needed some fresh air to clear his head.  
————————————————  
As soon as the door closed, the silence between the two siblings broke. 

“he knows my name!” Peter said, much more excitedly than Jess thought he should have. She raised an eyebrow 

“why are you all of a sudden star struck by a terrorist?” 

Peter sighed, suddenly feeling very tired and flopped back on the bed. 

Jess rolled her eyes and continued. “first of all, you forgave him so easily, that hasn’t happened when hank bumped your bed, or when he told you how long you’d be in a cast, or when Scott was “breathing too loud. Or when-“

“okay, I get it.” Peter interrupted. “I told you I’m about as mentally strong as a fly right now.”

“okay. Yeah, and now you’re board,” she shrugged. “so what’s up with magneto?”

Peter closed his eyes for a long second and sighed again. 

“and why are you sighing so much??” 

“so you remember how our dad has been missing for ages and mum never tells us about him?” 

Jess gave him a long look but nodded. “....yeah, I’ve been pissed at him since I was old enough to know he took off.” 

“yeah, well...” 

“oh no, oh heck no.” 

Peter sighed and let his head drop into his hands. “yeah...I know.” 

Jess stared off into space and took off. Peter sighed again and just stared up at the ceiling. He expected her to run off, but that didn’t make him any less unhappy about being alone.


	29. The secret spill gets worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t even have an excuse besides writer’s block. Like. It hit me so so hard. Just BAM. Anyway, this is a short chapter, the next one will be more exciting and will have more on John, I believe, and Peter, this one kind of shrank away from them, or at least their problems. Anyway, more ouchy leg stuff to come...

Jess tore through the hallway. She went so fast she didn’t notice John leaving the professor’s office an barreled right into him. 

“Woah!!” John went flying backwards and would have slammed into the front door if Jess hadn’t caught him just in time. 

“Sorry.” She mumbled and backed up, ready to take off when John grabbed her wrist. 

“Jess, are you okay?” 

Jess turned to him, glaring. “No.” Her voice broke. “No I’m really not.” 

John took one look at her and knew instantly she needed help. He nodded to the den across the hall. 

“Want to talk.” 

Jess glanced from John to the front door to the den before she nodded. “...yeah...” 

The duo made their way to the den, though it was closer to John pulling Jess rather than anything else. He could tell she wanted to run. Once on the couch, Jess bounced her leg up and down and started playing with the stitching on the armrest. 

“Sooooo...” John started. “What’s up?” 

Jess shot him a glance and shrugged. “You remember how Peter and I have been looking for our dad.” 

John frowned. He didn’t like where this was going. “Yeah...” 

“And you know magneto?” 

“Holy crap! What-“ 

“Excuse me.” 

John and Jess whipped around. In the doorway stood the man himself. John honestly didn’t know what to think. Magneto was a terrorist, but how bad could he really be if he was Jess’ dad...and Peter’s, of course. 

Erik spared John a glance, but seemed more focused on Jess. Jess was glaring at him like he was a lettuce popsicle. Okay, not the best analogy, but John personality hates popsicles so it made sense. And lettuce. Lettuce was the worst. 

“Jessica-“ Erik began, but before he could get any further, Jess jumped to her feet. 

“Don’t call me that! I *hate* that name.” 

John fully expected the next sentence out of her mouth to be “I hate you.” But she held back. Erik didn’t seem anymore relieved. He stared at the floor for a moment before glancing back up to his *daughter* (which is by far the weirdest thing John had heard that day.) 

“I need to talk to you.” Erik said. “And your brother, I-“

“I’m aware, thanks.” Jess snapped. Erik stood there, open mouthed for what felt like forever. 

“Oh.” Erik sighed.

“Yeah.” Jess made for the door, Erik didn’t even try to stop her.   
...........................................................  
Magda was exploring the mansion when a kid with red hair stepped right in front of her. 

“Oh sorry.” He said with a glance back towards the door he had come out of. “Sorry.” He said again and ducked out of her way and down the hall. He must have had other things to get to. Magda didn’t blame him. Everyone, including herself, was a *bit* on edge. 

Magda continued her walk down the hall with a couple glances back towards the red headed boy. She’d seen him around before, helping with the little kids. He seemed like a nice kid. 

When Magda reached the room the boy had come from, she spared a glance inside. Magda froze in the doorway. On the couch, just across from her was Erik, head in his hands. 

Magda cleated her throat just as she used to. Erik looked up. 

“Oh.” He sighed. “It’s you, I-“

“You hoped it was Jess, didn’t you.” 

Erik stared off out the window for a long moment. “...yes.” 

Magda sighed and crossed her arms. This situation felt all too familiar: Erik was sulking and she was coming to the rescue. 

“I was right, then?” She asked. Erik let his head fall back into his hands. 

“...yes...as always. Jessica hates me. I might as well be her father’s killer.” 

“Jess.” Magda corrected. She barely caught herself from snapping at him, but this was no place for a quick temper. There was enough of that in the family as it was. “She won’t hate you forever, but it will take a good bit of time.” 

“I’ve waited fifteen years, Magda.” 

“Then you can wait a little bit longer Erik!” Magda said, now frowning. “Isn’t a life with them from now on better than a couple months without closure!?” 

“I-I”

“Erik.” Magda interrupted. “I’m sorry, but you’re going to need to grow up at some point. Now seems like a good time to do it.”


	30. Another day, another nightmare

Peter’s condition varied. Sometimes he would be lucid and dying to get out of bed. Other times his leg would hurt so badly all he did was lay with his eyes closed and groan every time he twitched. And then still others were worse and rather unpredictable, but no matter how many doses of painkillers hank gave him, nothing worked besides knocking him out completely, which wasn’t safe. Jess was a regular in the med bay to keep him company. Everyone else came and went, mainly visiting in their free time from helping out the mansion back together. 

Jess has fallen asleep in the lab with Peter, still holding his hand. In the middle of the night she snapped awake to a scream and woke up to see peter screaming bloody murder. Hank was in the room before she was fully awake and they both woke peter up with a lot of effort.   
Peter’s eyes went wide and he basically collapsed forward onto Jess. 

“oh-oh god it’s not real. It’s notrealitsnotreal.” 

Jess instinctively began scratching his back, “it’s okay, you’re in the mansion.”

Peter rested his head on Jess’ shoulder and started crying. Jess bit her lip, trying not to cry too. Every night he woke up like this. She and magda took turns calming him down. It was all rather overwhelming. 

The rest of the night went like that, Peter fell asleep and then woke up screaming. Hank upped his dose of meds and it didn’t do anything for him.

Jess yawned and leaned back in her chair when Ororo and John came in with breakfast.

“Oh hey guys.” Jess yawned. “What time is it?” 

John and Storm exchanged glances. “It’s 10:00.” Storm told her. 

“Oh....I didn’t realize I slept in, I-“

“It’s fine.” Storm assured her and handed over her breakfast. “Just eat, okay?” 

“...yeah, okay.” 

Jess took the breakfast, only then realizing how hungry she was. She scarfed down her food before Peter even took a bite of his. Jess glanced at him as he picked at his food. 

“Not hungry?” 

Peter gave her a look and shrugged. “I’m hungry, but I’ll just throw it up.” He sighed. “Again. 

“Still a bit shaken up from the dream?” 

Peter glanced at his hands. They were still shaking. “Just a bit.”

Peter didn’t eat breakfast. It came to around lunch and Jess had started falling asleep. Peter didn’t have the heart to wake her up, so he just stared up at the ceiling, trying not to focus on his leg. It was nearly impossible though. The painkillers weren’t doing jack. The IV in his hand was basically just keeping him from starving. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but eventually storm came in a took a seat. She, John, and Bobby were the most regular visitors besides Jess. Jean almost puked every time she got too close, Scott stayed with her, and Kurt cried almost every time he went in the med bay

Peter glanced up as Storm came in. “oh hey.” 

“hey.” She smiled. “how’s it going?” 

Peter let his head flop back on the pillows and sighed. “uh, honestly, and only because Jess is asleep....I feel like absolute crap. Everything hurts. Like, everything. And I’m really tired.” 

Storm grimaced. “so why don’t you sleep?” 

Peter looked up at her for a second before staring back at the ceiling. “because...even if I can get to sleep, I wake up screaming.” 

Storm nodded, she knew that. She had heard him.

After a long silence, Peter forced himself to continue the conversation. “so where are the other two?”

“oh, Bobby is helping with the younger kids and John...” storm shrugged. “I actually don’t know where he is. I haven’t seen him in the last hour.” 

Peter frowned. “oh...so like he disappears all the time?” 

“basically. Yeah.” 

Peter laughed a little and winced. ”Sounds like him.” He looked over at Jess. “she should get some sleep. And I mean good sleep. Not in here with me” 

“I would, Peter, I would love too, but Charles needs me in ten minutes, I-“

“It’s okay, storm. You think you could get John?” 

“.....I’ll text him............he’ll be here in twenty minutes.” 

“Thanks, Storm.”   
....................................................  
John was at dance, but wasn’t having nearly as good of a time as he hoped. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was tricking everyone by being there, like he might miss some horrible thing and they’d all be dead when he got back. 

“John, you okay?” 

John glanced up to face his teammate: lexi. “What? Yeah, I'm fine.” John shrugged. 

Lexi and Chloe (Lexi’s best friend) had a radar for telling when people aren't okay.

“Are you sure, John?” Lexi asked. 

“Yeah! I said I’m fine, thanks.” 

The girls exchanged glances, but didn’t push it.   
They started practicing and John was definitely out of it. His technique was wasn't at his usual level and he kept forgetting the choreo. Their teacher had to keep giving him corrections on things he usually did perfectly.

“John, why don't you just take a break?” His instructor told him. He knew it was less of a question and more of an order.

John nodded and went into the break room.

John slid down the wall of the break room. He needed to get over what had happened. But he just couldn't. With Peter in pain, it was hard to see him like that. Not as hard as Jess, obviously, but he absolutely hated seeing people in pain, especially his friends. He kept thinking of all the things that he could've done to maybe prevent this.

Eventually, John couldn't hold back the ocean of tears anymore. He had been holding back so many emotions recently, and it all had flooded out. John's phone started buzzing, and he hoped it wasn't someone calling him. He really really hoped.

John sighed. It was just a text from storm. ‘hey, where are you? We can’t find you anywhere and Jess needs a break big time.’ 

John texted back as best he could: ‘Hey. I'll be back soon. I'm willing to step in for Jess.’ 

‘okay, thx, eta?’ 

‘I'll be back in twenty minutes.’


	31. Battling guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, Peter tries to convince John that the apocalypse wasn’t his fault. (Poor John is having issues with that)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been so long...I have no excuse other than no motivation. I’m bridging the gap between two big sections that I have written and I’m putting more stuff in between than I expected. Don’t worry, we’re getting close to the end and the sequel will be up :)

John was at dance, but wasn’t having nearly as good of a time as he hoped. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was tricking everyone by being there, like he might miss some horrible thing and they’d all be dead when he got back. 

“John, you okay?” 

John glanced up to face his teammate: lexi. “What? Yeah, I'm fine.” John shrugged. 

Lexi and Chloe (Lexi’s best friend) had a radar for telling when people aren't okay.

“Are you sure, John?” Lexi asked. 

“Yeah! I said I’m fine, thanks.” 

The girls exchanged glances, but didn’t push it.   
They started practicing and John was definitely out of it. His technique was wasn't at his usual level and he kept forgetting the choreo. Their teacher had to keep giving him corrections on things he usually did perfectly.

“John, why don't you just take a break?” His instructor told him. He knew it was less of a question and more of an order.

John nodded and went into the break room.

John slid down the wall of the break room. He needed to get over what had happened. But he just couldn't. With Peter in pain, it was hard to see him like that. Not as hard as Jess, obviously, but he absolutely hated seeing people in pain, especially his friends. He kept thinking of all the things that he could've done to maybe prevent this.

Eventually, John couldn't hold back the ocean of tears anymore. He had been holding back so many emotions recently, and it all had flooded out. John's phone started buzzing, and he hoped it wasn't someone calling him. He really really hoped.

John sighed. It was just a text from storm. ‘hey, where are you? We can’t find you anywhere and Jess needs a break big time.’ 

John texted back as best he could: ‘Hey. I'll be back soon. I'm willing to step in for Jess.’ 

‘okay, thx, eta?’ 

‘I'll be back in twenty minutes.’   
———————————————-  
John stuck to his word and left a half hour later. He quickly changed into normal clothes before going to the med bay. His face was still a bit tear-stricken

Storm turned as he came in. Peter was still staring at the ceiling and jess was still fast asleep. 

Storm glanced over at Peter. “John’s here.” 

Peter looked up a little and managed a small smile. “oh hey John.” 

John forced a smile in return. “Hey.” 

Storm got up and left the room with a small pat on John’s shoulder.   
John walked in and took a seat. 

Peter studied him for a long moment, making John more than uncomfortable. At last, the speedster spoke. “are you okay?” 

John’s mouth fell open. “I-uh, am *I* okay? Look at yourself.” 

“you seem about as fine as I do.” 

John frowned. He almost wished Peter was too out of it to have this conversation, but he had no such luck. John shrugged, trying his best to act natural. “What makes you think that?”

Peter raised an eyebrow. “you looked like you’ve been crying.” 

John quickly wiped his face. He hadn't looked in a mirror since he got back, unfortunately. He should have known better. People could always tell that he’d been crying, even hours after the fact. 

John shrugged. “Well....” 

“well what?” Peter asked. He was getting impatient, John could tell. The speedster was scowling now. “Come on, I’m board out of my mind. Just tell me!” 

John shrugged again. “don't know. Its just.....ugh.” He sighed and put his head in his hands, mumbling to himself. “there are so many things I could've done. So many things I could've done to prevent all this pain.” 

“what?” 

John sighed and glanced up. “There are so many things I could've done.” 

It was Peter’s turn to stare in disbelief. Without the broken leg, Peter probably would have caught on earlier, john knew, but it didn’t make it any easier to spell out his thoughts.

Peter squinted at him. “About what? Apocalypse?” 

John didn't speak, but nodded slightly. In truth, if He hadn’t been so unstable, the mansion never would have exploded. John knew that, and was just holding out hope his friends forgave him. At the time, there wasn’t much time to place blame, but now...John knew it was his fault. He worked through it in his head millions of times. He couldn’t control himself, his powers, his curse. *his* fault. 

Peter gawked at John for a long moment before he swallowed and spoke: “look...apocalypse took on the professor. Jean. Er-magneto. All of us, and...you know he-he........I-I couldn’t out run him.” John could tell that took a lot to say. Peter looked kind of sick after trying to force out the words ‘caught me’ 

Peter sighed and locked eyes with John. “you don’t need to feel bad either.” He said with a small nod. 

“Yes I do” 

Peter face palmed. “why???” 

John stood up so fast he knocked his chair over. Peter flinched at the sudden movement, uncommon for him, but John didnt notice. He was too blinded by his own guilt to focus on anything else. “You wondered why the school exploded??” He asked. It was me, okay?! I did it! And...” John ran a hand through his hair and bit his lip. There was no use trying to hide the truth from his friends, they’d make the connection eventually, but the words stung more out loud than John expected. 

Peter looked really taken aback. “I-...what?” He stammered, mouth working, but not words came. 

John righted his chair and slumped back down, shaking slightly. “The mansion exploded...because of me.” 

“I know what you said, that doesn’t help. So I’ll say it again. What???” 

John sighed. Why did he have to spell it out? “I was in the med bay with Hank. Something was happening with my mutation and he was making sure it was all good. Apocalypse came through a portal and....I blew up.” 

“what? You just...randomly blew up?!” 

John twisted his fingers around and shrugged. The topic was helpless to try and avoid, but he still wished the floor would swallow him up. “I don't know what made it happen,” John sighed. “all I know is that I destroyed the school.” 

“....did his eyes turn white.” Peter asked. 

John glanced up at him. “I think so.” 

Peter nodded. “he was using his powers that’s what he did when he...when he...he.....” 

“I know what you're talking about.” 

Peter sighed. “thanks...but his eyes turn white. He did something to you.” 

John scoffed. He didn’t need anyone’s help losing control of his powers. “Did what?” 

“he could’ve, I don’t know, screwed with your powers.” Peter said. “We don’t know all the powers he had. We don’t even know how he.....you know.” 

“Yeah I know.” 

Peter closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. He let the breath out slowly, but didn’t relax. John worried the speedster might be overdoing it with his excitement. 

After a couple minutes Peter open his eyes again and scowled. 

“I think apocalypse messed with your powers,” he said slowly, like he was having trouble thinking. “so don’t go blaming yourself. Just like that magneto guy can’t rip iron out of the earth’s core normally, you don’t normally explode.” 

John managed a smile. “Yeah......maybe.”


End file.
